Malta’s EU membership has helped to enrich the development of the Maltese language, according to two translation experts. 

Twenty years after EU enlargement, David Schembri, a field officer at the Directorate General for Translation (DGT) in Malta, believes Malta’s membership positively impacted the development of the language, including but not limited to what he called “the development – if not the creation – of the translation profession in Malta”.

The DGT field office in Malta acts as a bridge between the European Commission’s Directorate General for Translation’s Maltese-language Department and the Maltese language community. 

‘United in diversity’ is the motto of the EU’s policy in multilingualism. And all 24 official languages, including Maltese, have the same task at hand: translating anything from a press release to a piece of legislation in their own language.

We can speak in our own language at the decision-making table, and someone now has to translate us

“This approach is unique in multinational organisations and runs counter to the imperialist practice of imposing a single language onto a heterogeneous group of communities at the expense of the local languages,” Schembri said.

Before Malta joined the EU, the need for translation services was limited and for decades there was no university postgraduate translation course offered. The degree was introduced shortly before Malta’s accession to the EU.

Originally the team of Maltese translators consisted of about 60 people, and they had two main tasks at hand, namely, to translate all EU legislation before 2004 and anything that came after it. 

Mark Vella. Photo: Mark Vella Linkdin

Mark Vella, head of communications for the European Commission Representation in Malta, was one of the first Maltese translators to move to Luxemburg in 2004.

He says the EU had a huge impact on the language because it gave Maltese a more solid basis and helped elevate it to another level.

“We can speak in our own language at the decision-making table, and someone now has to translate us,” Vella said.

“Translating everything was a challenge for most countries. We began by looking at the limited resources available, such as dictionaries, word lists and so on and gradually we began to gain confidence to take on translation challenges.”

This was not a distinctly Maltese challenge. Many other countries also faced the same problem of creating terminology as well as the potential of digital extinction.

Digital extinction is when you fail to find resources in your own language. In 2004, when Malta became a member, the internet was still in its infancy and the language of the internet was English.

In the early 2000s it was a challenge to communicate in Maltese online, and one had to have special Maltese characters downloaded. There were very few resources available in the language.

“Maltese being an official EU language, along with the increase in resources and texts produced, helped bolster the Maltese language and fight its digital extinction. If we were to consider a parallel reality in which Maltese wasn’t an official EU language, I think the language would have been worse off,” said Schembri.

Today there are more digital resources available in Maltese thanks, in part, to investments by European institutions. These include resources like IATE, the EU’s terminology database, which help power platforms like traduzzjuni.mt. But Schembri stressed the language must depend on its speakers and encouraged people to continue contributing to the language digitally through social media, podcasts, YouTube channels and more.

George Farrugia, one of the senior lecturers at the University of Malta’s Maltese Department and the president of l-Akkademja tal-Malti, agreed that Malta’s EU membership had been a big help to the development of the language.

He said that in terms of translation and resources, the situation has improved but questioned if the language is being prioritised enough. 

“Sometimes I see government correspondences being sent out in English as opposed to Maltese, and I feel it gives the impression that Maltese is dispensable. Maltese must be our priority.”