‘Minding our language’ (May 22) makes a strong case for the preservation of the Maltese language in the digital age. However, it fails to give any prescriptions.

In my view, what the Maltese language needs most urgently is an official spelling-and-grammar checker that is compatible with all leading word-processors. At the moment, writing a simple e-mail or two-page report in Maltese still requires the use of the classic, multi-volume Ġużè Aquilina dictionary and other paperback grammar sources. For a busy office worker, this is a big effort and takes up too much time.

Additionally, we also need a modern, live, regularly updated, well-maintained and fully interactional dictionary/thesaurus and grammar-teaching website. While a couple of attempts to create this have been made over the years, the results have always fallen short of what a present-day writer accustomed to using similar linguistic tools of other popular tongues would expect.

There is no denying that these undertakings would be costly and require the employment of several linguistic and IT experts but if we really want people to keep the language alive and use it in the digital world, we need to make it fun and easy for them to do so.

Having these resources available will also do a great deal to promote the language overseas. If we can find millions of euros for restoring historic buildings (and rightly so) and creating temporary sandy beaches (a silly idea), we can generate the necessary funds for preserving (and developing) Malta’s intangible heritage. What we need is the political will for this to happen.

One last advantage of this project is that it would give the Akkademja tal-Malti a new sense of purpose. Maybe then it would stop constantly changing the rules, dumbing down the grammar and endlessly discussing how to spell loan words.