"Dear Malta - the flower of the world"

Life often takes us by surprise on a personal, national and international level. In spite of historical consciousness, who would ever have predicted the outbreak of the 1989 revolutions and the downfall of the communist regimes? Moreover, who would have dared to predict that countries such as Poland and the Baltic States would ever join the European Union?

And up to a few years ago, wouldn't it have be ludicrous to assume that Maltese would become an official language of the EU - a status enjoyed by neither Welsh, Gaelic, or Catalan? (regarding the latter, Spain's new Prime Minister, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, pledged to try to make it an official EU language).

These thoughts came to my mind while I was listening to Henriette Walter, a professor of linguistics at the University of Rennes, deliver the keynote address during the European Summer School held at the CIEP (Centre international d'etudes pedagogiques) in Sèvres, outside Paris, from March 28 to April 4.

Professor Walter spoke of the importance of languages and differentiated between mother tongues, national, official, regional, and foreign languages. In the EU there are many other languages apart from the official ones. It is the Union's policy to promote not only languages but also dialects, which are disappearing at a fast rate. The overarching predominance of English as a communicative tool (English has become the lingua franca) should not prevent Europeans from learning other foreign languages.

The long-term objective of the EU is that all Europeans will be able to communicate in two languages in addition to their mother tongue. It is therefore necessary to develop new and perhaps more effective methods of teaching languages. We also need reliable methods of assessment which would give us a clearer picture of the teaching and learning of languages in Europe.

It was found out for example, that in France, proficiency in English is very poor indeed. Hence the need to develop diagnostic and mediation tools to help raise standards and therefore ensure better performance in future testing. This may involve changes in educational policies, including those dealing with teacher education both in the phase of initial training and in the planning of ongoing professional development. It would be impossible to carry out such changes unless we know where we are and where we want to arrive. This is a prerequisite in formulating clear and attainable targets.

Linguistically, Europe is a very rich continent. The family of languages spoken in the greater part of Europe is termed Indo-European. Professor Walter dealt with three main categories of languages: Germanic, Romance and Slavic. I was deeply interested in her description of the characteristics of German, English, French, Polish, as well as Czech and Slovak (which are very closely related), and Russian (these last four languages are members of the Slavic family). Interestingly, while Russian is written in the Cyrillic alphabet, Polish, for example, uses the Latin alphabet. This is also the case with Maltese even though it is of Semitic origin.

Professor Walter then dealt with the Baltic languages - Lithuanian, Estonian and Latvian. Lithuanian is the oldest of the Indo-European languages, and thanks to the fall of the USSR, this language has flourished during recent years.

She then referred to the Celts and explained how these originated in the North of the Black Sea thousands of years before Christ. There was a time when two-thirds of Europe was Celtic (linguistically Celtic is considered a sub-group of the Indo-European language group). We still use names of Celtic origin such as York, Lyon and Vienna.

When speaking about European languages it is impossible to leave out Greek or Latin, which were and still are of such great importance for our civilisation. We use countless words of Greek and Latin origin in our everyday conversation.

Europe is blessed with a rich variety of languages. In Italy, for example, there are many dialects, all derived from Latin. Spanish and Portuguese, spoken by millions not only in the Iberian peninsula but also in America, are also derived from Latin, as is Romanian.

Focusing on Belgium, Professor Walter discussed the French, German and the Flemish-speaking communities in the country. Flemish is extremely similar in form to Dutch, which is spoken in the Netherlands. I was really fascinated and listened attentively to the interesting analysis of these languages, including Slovene (a South Slavonic language closely related to Serbo-Croat), Hungarian (belonging to the Finno-Ugric family) as well as the languages used in Scandinavia.

It was at this point that I shared a thought with my colleagues. Isn't the professor going to mention Maltese? My heart stopped beating for a second when, after a short pause, Professor Walter smiled and said that in Europe there is another language that she had not yet mentioned and which she described as unique. I immediately knew that she was going to speak about Maltese but, of course, I did not know what she was going to say.

Then she explained how she was born in Tunis and how as a young girl she used to hear people make references to "Dear Malta - the flower of the world". She explained how Maltese is of Semitic origin although written in the Latin alphabet, and how it is the only language of Semitic origin that is going to become (and now is) an official language of the European Union. At that moment I felt proud to be Maltese.

During the stay in Sèvres the participants treated a most important topic, namely the assessment of mother languages. For a number of years Europeans have had the Common European Framework of Reference for Foreign Languages, which is being used even by some countries outside Europe. Perhaps one should point out that Malta, England and Ireland did not adopt this framework, but formulated their own tailor-made form of assessment.

What happened in Sèvres was that Europeans wanted to move a step forward. It was proposed that there should be a common framework for the assessment of mother languages. If such a framework materialises we will have to reflect on whether to adapt the framework mentioned above or create a brand new version. The feeling during the course was that 'top officials' wanted to have a framework.

Participants were very cautious regarding this issue and did not want to commit themselves in favour or against such a proposal. They were assured that the European Commission does not have in mind the harmonisation of the assessment of mother languages. The framework is necessary to propagate good practice, provide a reference point, and establish standards of achievements. Otherwise each nation will be left free to evolve its own educational system.

This proposal of a Common Framework made me reflect on whether we, as Maltese, know our language as much as other Europeans know their own mother tongues. Dare I express the opinion that, if tested, the Maltese would not perform very satisfactorily? There are highly educated persons occupying important positions who, unfortunately, have not as yet mastered their mother tongue. Perhaps Dun Karm's admonition is still very pertinent:

Hobb jekk jiswewlek l-ilsna barranija
izda le tbarri lil min hu ta' gewwa.

This obviously not some form of direct or indirect attack on the teaching and learning of foreign languages. We need to communicate with the outside world. We need Maltese and we also need English. Malta already has a language policy. We are committed to bilingualism, which is the minimum requirement. We know that without English we cannot survive.

Other countries, big and small, such as Germany, the Scandinavian countries and the Baltic states have also realised the need to master this language of international communication. This leads us to the fact that there is such a thing as the market value of a language, though one should remember that there is also the non-marketable value, and this is very difficult to assess, as was pointed out in Sevres by Francois Grin of Geneva University.

While in Sèvres, a colleague from Basle said that children have to master their mother tongue before they start learning another language. Research and personal experiences have proved that this is far from the truth. We can study Maltese and English concurrently without compromisimg one or the other. Having said all this, Maltese will always remain our mother tongue; it gives us our identity, it is the soul of the nation. Up to a certain extent it is even more significant than the motherland.

Us Maltese are lucky indeed. We were blessed with a land and a language of our own. Let's take care of them and treat them as two of the most precious possessions we can ever have. Let's be proud that our language, once - il-lingwa tal-kcina - is now one of the official languages of the European Union.

Mr Grech is an Education Officer at the Educational Assessment Unit