We treasure our mother tongue. It distinguishes us from other nations. It gives us our unique identity. We’re proud of it.
Sociolinguistic differences, and historical dynamics, moulded the Maltese into today’s language. These two factors led to the evolution of Maltese into a language with a distinct genetic mix and influences from languages of various rulers in our history.
We use our mother tongue to communicate and interact with one another. The use of Maltese in various socio-economic sectors was surveyed by statistician Vincent Marmara who was commissioned by the Centre for the Maltese Language to obtain scientific data of the state of our national language.
The survey was carried out last January and represents the opinion of the Maltese and Gozitan population showing how truly we safeguard the language which defines our identity. These results were announced at the National Forum on the Maltese Language which was organised a few days ago by the Centre for the Maltese Language.
It is encouraging that 95% of Maltese consider Maltese as one of their main languages. It transpired, that almost 95% of Maltese speak Maltese with their relatives, while with children, only 68% of parents speak Maltese. The highest age bracket of parents whose children understand only the English language is the 26-45 age bracket (24.3%). These results are worth exploring in depth.
The use of the Maltese language within the national education curriculum too was discussed during the Forum. This made for animated discussion. I believe that we must strengthen the knowledge of Maltese among children, and we should not consider Maltese and English as rival languages, but complementary to each other.
Educators and parents should strive to strike a balance between the use of resources in Maltese and English. There are numerious resources of this sort. Many public and private entities are publishing books, audiovisual material, and have developed several digital tools. The Centre for the Maltese Language, as a promoter of Maltese, is committed to inform people of these useful resources for children.
The mass media (both the traditional and social media) has a very important role in children’s education. Stronger commitment is needed from local media houses to broadcast children's programmes in Maltese. Collaborations should be made with public entities and private companies who are developing various resources, including through technology, so that children enjoy learning the Maltese language.
For adults, the media is the most popular source of information. The survey shows that news portals are the most sought after in Maltese, while the majority like to listen to the radio in Maltese. Thus, broadcasters carry great responsibility and should use Maltese correctly in programmes and news.
Digital tools, such as the Maltese spell checker, can be very useful to broadcasters. But not only. Even for the public administration, these tools are effective and efficient.
A Maltese spell checker would be useful to encourage people to write emails, text messages and social media posts in proper Maltese. The Centre for the Maltese language is committed to find the necessary resources and finances for this ambitious project.
These are a few of the initiatives that the Centre is working on to strengthen our mother tongue among the Maltese. There is much more to be done, including encouraging more foreigners who live and work in our country to learn Maltese, as well as preserving our language among the Maltese diaspora.
The Centre for Maltese Language remains firmly committed to work with all stakeholders for the benefit of our language.
A collective effort is needed from the Government, the Opposition, unions, workers, employers, schools and other institutions, so that we all work hand in hand, with the aim of ensuring that our language remains alive. The Maltese language is no one's feud, it belongs to us all.
Norma Saliba is CEO of the Centre for the Maltese Language