Promoting Maltese

I refer to Joe Busuttil's letter (May 8) about languages.

While I certainly would not mind having the word Unjoni Ewropea in English on a Maltese passport (even though this is unheard of and not common practice), I cannot but disagree with his statement that the English language is "the most cherished legacy from our colonial days". Although during the colonised period the acquisition of a sound command of the English language was certainly an asset, this same period sowed the seeds for the Maltese language to be relegated as one of secondary importance to English. Indeed, the very fact that "telephone numbers on radio and television" and street names like Triq it-Torri are often pronounced in English, is a sad consequence of this.

Mr Busuttil cannot be serious when he asserts that we are "discarding" the English language; tuning to any radio/television station is enough to listen to journalists, presenters, the public and even distinguished academics alternating between Maltese and English in the most deliberate manner, often ignoring the fact that words uttered in English have a perfect equivalent in native Maltese. This without mentioning the use of Romantic words instead of Semitic ones often with hilarious consequences. A case in point was a recent television programme tackling the visual arts where a particular word signifying "art exhibitions" was employed from the Italian language as mostri instead of the appropriate wirjiet!

I am aware as much as Mr Busuttil that the Maltese language is "spoken only by a very tiny minority in the world". Nevertheless, in an extremely young nation just 40 years old, still struggling to clearly define its identity, promoting the Maltese tongue is a much more immediate priority than encouraging further use of the English language.