The survival of the Maltese language depends far less on legislation or campaigns than on the small, everyday choices made by Maltese people themselves, Kurt Meli, a freelance interpreter with the EU institutions better known to hundreds of thousands of followers as Kurt Rumbajsa, told The Malta Independent on Sunday.
Meli, who has built a large following on TikTok and Instagram through short videos that mix humour with education about the Maltese language, spoke at length about why he believes Maltese is worth protecting, why framing the debate as "Maltese versus foreigners" does more harm than good, and why he thinks the real work of keeping the language alive begins at home, not in the classroom.
Meli said he did not want to reduce the importance of Maltese to a single sentence. What matters most, he said, is remembering that Maltese is not simply a symbol of prestige or decoration, but a language of daily utility that the overwhelming majority of Maltese people were raised speaking. For him, that role as a means of communication, however large or small the community using it, is what gives the language its value and legitimacy, regardless of how many speakers it has.
He also pointed to what the language represents historically, tracing its roots from North Africa through Sicily and describing centuries of influence from the people who settled in Malta, which he said helped it flourish rather than weakened it. He argued there was no reason why that evolution should stop now, whether the language is spreading within Malta or beyond it.
Asked whether he was worried the language could be lost, Meli acknowledged the concern but pushed back against the idea that Maltese is simply in decline. He said there is a valid argument that Maltese is, in some respects, being appreciated more than before. He recalled that he started creating content partly in reaction to his own upbringing, when almost everything he consumed from Malta was in English.
He said the digital media landscape had become so dominated by English that many people began to feel the absence of a Maltese-language alternative, something reflected in trends such as people giving their homes Maltese names, or the gradual emergence of Maltese-language podcasts and shows. In his view, that reflects a growing push to give Maltese a genuine digital platform, even if a generation heavily exposed to English-language media does not always feel confident speaking it.
'Maltese versus foreigners' framing rejected
Meli was unambiguous when asked whether framing discussions about protecting Maltese as "Maltese people against foreigners" was fair or productive. He said it was neither, arguing that Malta has beautiful traditions worth preserving, but that these are too often viewed through a lens of rivalry and local one-upmanship that serves no purpose. People can take pride in what they have, he said, without turning it into a battle of "us against them".
He illustrated the point with a recent example from a meeting he attended, where a woman who is half-Maltese and half-Australian, and who lives in and contributes to Malta, described facing repeated obstacles because her Maltese was not strong enough. He said he noticed people mocking her or excluding her from conversations after the discussion shifted into English, despite her ongoing efforts to learn the language and the sensitive experiences she had already been through. He said that kind of exclusion happens naturally in a small language community struggling to keep pace with the digital world, but pointed to positive developments too, citing an ongoing project to build a more comprehensive Maltese dictionary as an example of progress.
For Meli, "demonising" the idea of the foreigner does nothing to help Maltese people appreciate their own language, let alone encourage others to do so. He said the starting point has to be Maltese people themselves actively using the language, in informal settings, formal contexts and even in advertising, so that it is visibly alive rather than assumed to be redundant.
Responsibility begins at home, not just in the classroom
Asked how much responsibility rests with Maltese people themselves, rather than being placed on foreign residents, Meli said formal education is important, but only up to a point. He argued that people absorb a language most effectively through repeated exposure, rather than through classroom instruction alone, drawing on his own experience of living in the Netherlands for roughly two years. He said he picked up Dutch almost by osmosis, from being surrounded by it daily, even though he does not feel one hundred per cent confident speaking it.
He was critical of what he described as the irony of people who present themselves as fierce online defenders of Maltese, telling others to "speak Maltese", while struggling to write the language correctly themselves. He said this was not a reflection on those individuals personally, but on the education system, arguing that being unable to write one's own language properly does the language no favours. He compared the situation to English, Dutch, French or Italian speakers, who do not need to be linguists to write their own languages competently.
Meli also drew a contrast between Malta and the Nordic countries such as the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, where he said the cultural norm is to blend in and integrate rather than stand out, and where switching to English mid-conversation with a struggling speaker is far less automatic than it is in Malta. He said Maltese people have a reflex to switch into English as soon as someone appears not to understand Maltese, largely out of a wish to make people feel included, but argued this reflex, however well-intentioned, assumes everyone is equally comfortable in English, which he described as a privileged assumption that does not reflect reality. He gave the example of adverts, menus, daily notices and bus stop timetables that default to English, arguing that greater use of Maltese in these everyday contexts would have more influence on integration than people might expect.
On why many young Maltese people, particularly teenagers, default to English even when speaking to other Maltese people, Meli spoke from personal experience, saying he attended a private school where English was heavily emphasised, leaving him more exposed to and confident in English from an early age, including in the media he consumed. He said that although he spoke Maltese with friends, he felt more comfortable expressing himself in English by the time he reached the end of secondary school, something he admitted made him feel embarrassed and insecure. He credited his family for continuing to speak to him in Maltese regardless of which language he used with them, which he said pushed him to improve.
He said this is precisely why he does not believe it is enough for Maltese to be confined to the home while English dominates at school, arguing that without sufficient exposure outside the household, a person's Maltese will not develop the strength it needs. He suggested that younger generations today are experiencing a more extreme version of what he went through, warning against very young children being given unsupervised access to English-language content on tablets without anything to balance it, saying problems can start to emerge once a child's early language exposure becomes overwhelmingly one-sided.
Bilingual education 'not achieving what it thinks it is'
Meli also questioned Malta's approach to bilingual education, drawing on his own schooldays, when he chose to specialise in Maltese history but studied it entirely through English-language textbooks and notes. He said this left him better equipped to reason and argue in English than in Maltese, calling the balance unhealthy, and argued that simply giving students the option to express themselves in whichever language they prefer does not serve Maltese well if the education system has not built up their confidence to choose it. He said schools need to be more proactive, rather than reactive, preparing students in advance of exams so they are equipped to express themselves fully in Maltese, rather than defaulting to the more comfortable option.
He linked this to the value of free, non-profit language resources, again pointing to the new Maltese dictionary project as a rare and valuable tool that did not exist even a few months ago, and argued that more public funding, including from taxation, should go towards similar projects that keep the language alive and accessible.
Filling the gap on social media
On whether Maltese people should be creating more content in Maltese on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, Meli again returned to the idea of a shift in mentality. He acknowledged that English remains the most accessible language for reaching the widest possible audience, and that plenty of Maltese creators have found international success making content in English. But he argued that this mindset has left a vacuum among Maltese audiences who want content they can relate to in their own language, a gap he said motivated him to begin creating content in Maltese roughly three years ago.
He said the project began purely for enjoyment, without any financial motive, and that it took around 18 months before people really began to take notice. He said he was surprised by the level of interest shown not only by Maltese people, but also by non-Maltese residents and people living entirely outside Malta who wanted to learn the language, interest that predated his decision to start adding English subtitles to his videos. Maltese-language content is not his main source of income, he said, but he continues to take on collaborations when the opportunity arises, and said he takes real satisfaction in seeing more people willing to create content in Maltese rather than assuming it will limit their reach.
Starting small, on an individual level
Asked what ordinary Maltese people can do, from daily life to media and education, to help protect the language for future generations, Meli said the answer lies in small, individual choices rather than sweeping policy change alone. He suggested modest curriculum adjustments that give Maltese more of a boost without diminishing English, while stressing that most of the responsibility ultimately falls on individuals. He said there is nothing wrong with children replying in English, but that parents still have a duty to keep showing them that they are equally capable of expressing themselves in Maltese, even if the child does not respond in kind straight away.
He said that opportunity is wasted if people simply continue defaulting to English themselves, returning to the idea that lasting change depends on a shift in mentality, applied consistently at an individual level. Summing up his message, Meli said the key is to stop viewing the effort as a burden.
"You have to stop seeing it as a challenge or an obstacle," he said, "and start seeing it as an opportunity."