We are all proud – we all should be – that a small island like Malta has its own language. Foreigners we get in touch with and who have little knowledge about Malta think that our main language is English, and many do not know that the Maltese language does exist.

Maltese, as a language, is a crucial part of our identity, of what makes us Maltese, and we should take extreme care not to lose it. Yet we must also understand that a language is not something dead, something that does not change, something that is not influenced by other languages, and therefore we must adapt to the circumstances.

The Maltese that we speak today is in fact an evolution of a language that withstood centuries of foreign presence in the country. The Maltese that is spoken today, although still by and large Semitic, is peppered by words that we have picked up from other languages that we have come in contact with, most notably Italian (or Sicilian) and more recently English, with a few French words here and there too.

And the Maltese that will be spoken in 10, 20 and a 100 years time will be different from the one we are speaking today. Just to give an idea, expressions that are used by today’s young people are completely different from the ones that are used by adults, and so the evolution continues.

What is sad is that today few are those who manage to keep a conversation in Maltese only (just as much as few, perhaps fewer people, can keep up a conversation in English only). While it is understandable that there is no Maltese translation for certain words, such as those that refer to technology, it is less understandable when Maltese words and expressions are completely lost and forgotten when they exist.

Where are we going wrong? We can blame the education system, which is perhaps not making the proper distinction when it comes to teaching the two languages, and which uses both for certain subjects that are not linked with either language, such as history and geography. But then, the way we speak in our homes and offices is also a mixture of the two languages too – and as long as our message gets across, nobody really cares.

We can blame the fact that we are constantly bombarded by foreign media – television, internet, radio and newspapers – that make it hard for us to stick to Maltese all the time, even if we really wanted to. And then, we can also console ourselves when we hear foreigners speak – many times they do use words stolen from other languages to make themselves understood.

Or else we can blame no one at all, and accept the fact that, as explained earlier, Maltese, like any other language, is in constant evolution and that it is bound to be influenced by other languages. We must accept the fact that, with all the “English” that we have grown up with, it is hard to use just one of the two languages at one go, knowing that the other person will understand the switching over from one to the other.

We should perhaps, stop and think a little bit more before we speak. When we are writing something important, we do not switch from one language to another. We stop and think how we can express ourselves in the best possible way.

But then, there is a chasm between the way we speak and the way we write. Also, there are people who can write well but then can’t speak the language properly, while others can speak a language correctly but then can’t write, not even with the use of a spell-checker.

Spelling? Well, that is another story.