Moving to Malta is a thrilling and daunting experience for several foreigners, but for some expats, the move involves the extra pressure of adapting to Maltese life.
They encounter a culture shock which naturally comes as they settle in a new country, especially when they have to face a new language and different cultural norms.
Nevertheless, it is crucial to understand that while these experiences might be universal, the narratives I have collected in my studies are not the only experiences of learners of Maltese as a second language (this linguistic term refers to the second, third, fourth language) from different cultural backgrounds.
Let’s face it, being able to speak a second language is no small feat. Speaking in Maltese as a foreign adult living in Malta is an advantage not only for the workplace, but also to integrate.
Though many Maltese speak English, not everybody is a balanced bilingual who speaks or understands English to the same extent as Maltese. Expats living in Malta learn Maltese for various reasons, ranging from finding employment to facilitating shopping to better interacting with workmen to making friends with Maltese nationals.
It helps to develop cognitive skills, creative and critical thinking and also helps to fight brain-ageing. However, for most adult learners, the journey of learning Maltese has various social challenges, such as difficulty in accommodation, misunderstanding and loneliness, as they cannot master the social norms of the Maltese society and are unaware of the social behavioural rules that are fundamental to interpersonal conduct, which inevitably contribute to culture shock (Furnham and Bochner, 1986).
My study, conducted on 35 foreign adults learning Maltese as a second language (ML2), revealed that these learners encountered various social difficulties. I am going to concentrate exclusively on culture shock.
Research shows that second language acquisition (SLA) is both sensitive to initial conditions and adaptation. It is to a very large extent, dependent upon cultural differences between the second language learner and those who use that language as their first language.
Among the other participants in my study, 23 out of 35 also experienced a culture shock a short time after they arrived in Malta- Jacqueline Zammit
This is partly because learning a language is essentially a socially-oriented process. It is also linked with the wider cultural and cognitive processes. For instance, a Swedish participant in my study who works in online gaming blamed the cultural differences between Malta and Sweden for his difficulty in learning Maltese.
He said: “When I first came to Malta five years ago, I was shocked and felt like an alien. The layout of the cities, the houses, lots of churches close to each other, and the tarmac are very different from my country. The Maltese are typical Mediterranean people – very nice and friendly and quite relaxed and laid back. They really love food, and they eat large portions. No wonder most of them are overweight!
“Of course, since they drive to work, there are lots of cars, and you rarely see Maltese people on their bicycles. Since I am working and my children are going to school here, I decided to learn Maltese. I find it very hard to learn because I can’t relate to the Maltese culture and the Maltese way of thinking.”
Among the other participants in my study, 23 out of 35 also experienced a culture shock a short time after they arrived in Malta.
For instance, an Estonian participant said: “In the beginning, I found Malta a fun place to be in. I took lots of pictures of Malta’s landscapes and showed them to my friends on Facebook. I was meeting new and interesting people, seeing different architecture, tasting Maltese food like pastizzi, bigilla, timpana, ħobż biż-żejt, figolli, qagħqa tal-appostli and so on, enjoying the religious feasts and fireworks, and working in my new job as a nurse. But after some time, I did not like the Maltese people’s attitudes; I was finding Maltese food to be very fatty and unhealthy.
Life in Malta is too slow, the Maltese architecture is an eyesore, the feasts uncolourful, and the bombardment of fireworks start as early as 8am in summer. I am always comparing Malta to Estonia and saying that Estonia is better and much more beautiful. However, I have a work contract, and I cannot return to Estonia when I want to. Plus, I won’t work as a nurse in Estonia.”
According to Buttaro (2004), culture shock has four phases, namely the honeymoon phase, the frustration phase, the adjustment phase, and the acceptance phase. In the beginning of his arrival to Malta, the Estonian participant was going through the honeymoon phase, the first phase of culture shock in which the learners become enthusiastic about the food, people and language in their fresh environment (Maude, 2011).
After some time, he started experiencing the frustrating phase, which is the hardest phase of culture shock. One may not understand signs, gestures and language sets; and there is the likelihood of a great deal of miscommunication (Lightbown and Spada, 2013). In fact, the Estonian nurse started to observe the differences between Malta and Estonia, and he missed his home country.
The Swedish participant was also in the frustration phase where he could not adjust to the Maltese mentality and lifestyle. Both the Estonian and the Swede had to adapt to and accept Maltese culture, which are the next two stages of culture shock, according to research.
Consequently, cultural differences can be resolved with cultural intelligence as learners can be flexible enough to understand, listen, analyse, reflect and adapt to the host country culture in addition to unlearning and challenging their own cultural beliefs and practices.
Those learning Maltese as a second language need to devise strategies to learn effectively in spite of their culture shock phase, speak in Maltese more often, manage their frustration arising from culture shock, and strive to go through the four phases of culture shock.
Jacqueline Zammit is a lecturer at the Faculty of Education, University of Malta.