The "shameful" lack of a law establishing when the Maltese language should be used could have serious consequences given the growing reliance on English, the Education Minister warned.

Evarist Bartolo made this point during question time parliament when asked by Labour MP Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi about government’s efforts to promote use of Maltese.

Education Minister Evarist Bartolo.Education Minister Evarist Bartolo.

“We should be ashamed for not having a law specifying when to use our national language. Use of Maltese language should be obligatory in certain situations,” he remarked.

He said the government should take steps to address this issue.

Mr Bartolo expressed concern that there was no level playing field between Maltese and English, especially with the rise of mobile phones and tablets.

“The most dangerous thing is that children from a tender age of 18 months onwards are much more exposed to English, as this is the language used on these devices,” he said.

Moreover, he said that worrying such trend is reinforced even in terms of literature and children’s entertainment.

Maltese cartoon character Fonzu l-Fenek.Maltese cartoon character Fonzu l-Fenek.

“Peppa Pig is being challenged by [Maltese character] Fonzu l-Fenek. There is no competition,” he said.

Mr Bartolo also pointed out that a recent survey revealed that just five per cent of the Maltese population felt confident using their native language. Failure to take any measures would only make the situation worse, he warned.

On a positive note, he remarked that incentives announced in the 2020 Budget to develop a Maltese language spell checker were a step in the right direction. He also referred to a recent scheme whereby students would soon be able to have access to 260 Maltese books in digital form.

Nonetheless, he said that there should be more incentives for Maltese publishers to roll out digital versions of their books. 

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.