We spoke to two expats about their attitudes to learning Maltese, its usefulness in their daily lives here and their experiences learning the language.  Amanda is a British and moved here with British husband and three young daughters. Phil has a Maltese wife and moved to Malta around four years ago; he also has a young daughter. On paper, even working, neither needed Maltese to get along.  But both chose to have a go, with varying degrees of success. Read on for why…and if you want to learn, check the further info at the article end.

Amanda’s Maltese language learning story

Q. Before moving to Malta did you research the language question to work out whether you needed Maltese to get along here?

I just took it as a given that I, and the rest of the family, would learn the language.   I see part of being in a country, and being a good guest in that country, as at least attempting to communicate in the local language.

I did order a CD-rom of Maltese to start learning before we arrived.

Q. Since Malta is officially bilingual, what really prompted you to start learning Maltese? 

I love languages, often they can be a window on to the culture of a country,  but of course when people move to a new country, they have a massive amount on their plate.   I have a deep rooted belief that anyone going to another country should do whatever they can to make themselves feel comfortable in the country.  In the part of Malta I live (Dingli), Maltese is very much the daily language.   But in reality, I hadn’t done anything about it until my kids started at school.  The teacher said that if I learned it would help me to support the kids’ learning.  So, as is so often the case, a mixture of motivations.

Q. What route to learning did you take? Private lessons or group courses? And where did you learn?

Group lessons in the local council offices.  I was the only foreigner; the lessons were Maltese literacy, so in reality, really useful for helping my daughter with homework, much less so for buying groceries and asking for directions (both of which I have attempted on many occasions with people who don’t speak English).

Q. How did you find the teaching material? Outdated or useful? And what about the approach?

The first year of lessons, the material wasn’t up to much – photocopied, very basic, often ancient.  But then some new books came out, Sisien, which were great, targeted at adults, lots of re-enforcement of day-to-day vocabulary, workbook to accompany the  text book, lots of chances for discussion.   Beyond anything else, the lessons were a great way to get to know more about life in Malta, as so many subjects were covered in the books and the discussion.  My teachers have been great; very keen to ensure I get something out of the lessons.

Q. How has knowing some Maltese enhanced your experience of living in Malta?

I have gained a lot of access to the culture, natural history etc of Malta through learning Maltese, but not necessarily through being competent enough to talk or read about it by myself!    Despite many lessons, my level is extremely basic, mostly because it is so easy to get by in English.  I believe the major advantage is being able to follow the side conversations in meetings, at shops etc and not feel totally excluded or paranoid that you are being cheated or talked about.  Usually the side conversations are very pedestrian.  It’s also nice to be able to share a (very simple) joke in the language – it always makes people smile, doubtless due to my appalling accent.

Q. What advice would you give a potential expat about learning Maltese?  

I would always say make the effort to learn the language.  People will tell you Maltese is difficult, but any language is until you put the time in to get to grips with it.  You can live here using only English, obviously, and Maltese may seem of limited use.  But I’ve learnt Spanish (spoken by millions across the world) and Indonesian (spoken by 200 million in Indonesia), and the language I’ve found the most useful over the years is Italian, so it isn’t always a numbers game….

Phil’s Maltese language learning story

Q. Did you feel the need to learn Maltese when you knew you were moving to the Islands? 

I was certainly open to learning Maltese. I lived in Italy for seven years and became fluent after around three, but learning by doing rather than through study, but I lived in a more non-English speaking environment. I lived in Portugal for three years and learned some basic Portuguese by study, it was more difficult as I lived in a more English speaking environment.  I arrived here expecting to learn Maltese, and being curious to do so.

Q. What was your understanding of the use of Maltese vis-a-vis English on the islands and how did that colour your attitude to learning Maltese?

I felt that in my position at work it was useful to learn, as I was managing both Maltese and foreign staff. The Maltese appreciated my trying, and found it amusing. When giving a team briefing, I tried to end with a different Maltese expression each time, and to keep it clean!

Q. Did you start learning Maltese at the start here or later?  

I have tried only a bit – actually I am disappointed at how unnecessary it is, and how little support there is. Many Maltese would rather I didn’t try and just speak English.

My daughter has fun teaching me some things.  I am keen that she speaks good Maltese but we speak English at home (her Mum is Maltese), but she continues to speak Maltese with the family and spends plenty of time with Nana and Nanu. The language would help me to integrate with the rest of the Maltese family; this should act as a motivator !

Q. Were you motivated?

I was motivated, yes. I tried MCAST at Paola and found it difficult to get to in the evening because of the traffic, but it seemed poorly structured and lessons were often cancelled. Some people I know completed the course and were happy, but I dropped out not too long into the course.

I tried to register for a local Sliema course this time starting in October at the local council. The browser I use wouldn’t enable me to register, after five emails a contact there informed me I was registered but Ihaven’t heard anything since.   I have also looked for a decent audio course and failed to find one so far…….

Q. Has your knowledge of the language stood you in good stead so far for life in Malta?  

I am unsure if any Maltese really makes a difference to my life in Malta; I seem to get by perfectly well without. I think this is unfortunate and means that I probably need to make much more of an effort to learn this language than those of the other countries I lived in.

Q. What advice would you give incoming expats about the need to learn Maltese? 

If you want to do it you will need to make extraordinary efforts to learn. I think that the Local Councils need to make it much easier for us to learn.

Further Info:

Where to Learn Maltese as a Foreigner

Local Councils – some offer Maltese literacy (not specifically for foreigners) and others Maltese lessons devised for foreign language learners.  A list of all local councils is on the government website here.  The search function and info on Local Councils  is Maltese even if you opt for ‘English’ when accessing gov.mt! Choose ‘dettalji kif tista’ under the fourth menu header ‘Il-Kuntatjana’ after selecting your local council from the drop down list.

MCAST – we didn’t see Maltese on its course lists for 2011-12, but check by contacting MCAST (Malta Council for Arts, Science & Technology) here.

German-Maltese Circle  offers what seem highly practical evening courses from October. Emphasis is on conversation ‘no grammar, text books or exams’! For students aiming for  basic conversational Maltese for work and leisure.

Photo: Queen Victoria by Leslie Vella. 

Corto Maltese - but what's this character's connection to Malta?

Malta and Maltese, noun and adjective, don’t always relate to the island or its people. Our Google Alerts for these words regularly comes up with a motley bunch of people, places and things that seem to have some connection to the islands, but what exactly? To sort out fiction and fact, we dig behind the names to see if they can claim some Maltese heritage, genealogy or other links. These are the ones that surface often online and when you chat face to face about Malta with people overseas.

Maltesers

A confectionery product manufactured by Mars, Inc. They are near spherical and have a malt-honeycomb centre coated in milk chocolate. They are most popular in the UK, Australia, Ireland, Canada, and Portugal, so says Wikipedia. The current name is a portmanteau of the words “malt” (one of the main ingredients) and “teasers”. Despite the similarity in the name, Maltesers are not named after the European country of Malta or its people, the Maltese.
We say, however, that anyone Maltese who’s lived abroad, especially in Anglophone countries, no doubt will have had their leg pulled at some point by being referred to as a ‘Malteser’.

Maltese Falcon

Four connections here: the novel, and film of the same name; the bird itself; and a 289-foot clipper sailing yacht.

Novel & Film: think Malta, and a lot of people think of ‘The Maltese Falcon’, a 1930 detective novel by Daschiell Hammett which was immortalised into a film noir classic (1941) of the same name starring Humphrey Bogart. The novel’s Maltese Falcon is a jewel-encrusted figurine of a black bird that has is believed to have been a gift from the island of Malta to the King of Spain a few hundred years before the action takes place. The jewelled bird has a peripheral but ever-present role in the plot, and therefore lends it name to the novel. But no action takes place in Malta. The rare, valuable figurine could easily have been something else from somewhere else had the author wished.

The Bird: Malta does have a regal association with the falcon though. When Holy Roman Emperor Charles V granted the Maltese Islands to the Knights of St John in 1530, after they were driven from Rhodes by the Saracens, he requested two Maltese falcons in annual rent: one for himself; the other for the viceroy of Sicily. Malta was renowned then for best-of-breed peregrine falcons, and was, until the mid 20th century, still a place where they nested, albeit in meagre numbers, on Gozo’s Ta’ Cenc cliffs. But, instead of being prized as hunting birds, they themselves became hunted to near oblivion. The last resident pair was shot in 1980. It’s probably fitting then that the Maltese falcon of Hammett’s novel is a statue. For more on falcons and the art of falconry today in Malta, see here.

The Yacht – this Maltese Falcon is the third largest private sailing yacht in the world (88m), and is berthed at Vittoriosa, Malta. Check it out here.

Corto Maltese

This is one of our favourite loose Malta connections. Corto Maltese is a comic book hero/anti-hero created by the Italian, Hugo Pratt, in the 1960′s. Pratt produced Corto Maltese stories for over two decades with the last serialised in 1989. The comic book character Corto Maltese was a wandering gentlemen rogue of World War I era in Europe and a sailor on the Seven Seas. His adventures ranged Venice to the then Congo, China and Siberia. The character was ‘born’ in Valletta on July 10, 1887, the son of a British sailor from Cornwall and an Andalusian gypsy. Corto Maltese’s name is thought to derived also from the Venetian Corte Maltese – Courtyard of the Maltese – today Corte Contarini del Bovolo, next to Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo in Venice. His name has been propagated into other comics and even into Tim Burton’s Batman movie. Whatever the fictitious connections with Malta, this rogue character does ring true when you walk some of Valletta’s less done-up waterfront areas and back streets with their music hall relics! We love him…. See the books here.

Amber Valletta

Ok, so we’re deviating with ‘Valletta’ but it’s a common enough Maltese name. American model and actress, Amber Evangeline Valletta, born February 9, 1974 in Tuscon, Arizona, has no links to Malta we can trace. She may well wash up here filming something at some point though, given Malta’s attraction as a location. Check her biog out here.

Maltese Dog

This breed of dog does seem to have some connection of the Islands, or at least the central Mediterranean, even if we can’t pinpoint Malta in its pedigree. It’s a popular miniature breed, and another popular diminutive breed, the Chihuahua, is a favourite in Malta today. The Maltese is an ancient breed has been known by a variety of names throughout the centuries. Originally called the “Canis Melitaeus” in Latin, it has also been known in English as the “ancient dog of Malta,” the “Roman Ladies’ Dog,” the “Maltese Lion Dog,” and the “Bichon” among other names, according to Wikipedia. Malta is ‘Melita’ in Greek and Latin, ‘malat’ in Phoenician, so a strong association between breed and country dating from ancient times seems likely. From Wikipedia, we read: ‘the dogs probably made their way to Europe through the Middle East with the migration of nomadic tribes. Some writers believe these proto-Maltese were used for rodent control (MIO:’which we think would have made it particularly useful here in Malta!’). The oldest record of this breed was found on a Greek amphora found in the Etruscan town of Vulci, in which a Maltese-like dog is portrayed along with the word Μελιταιε (Melitaie). Archaeologists date this ancient Athenian product to the decades around 500 B. C. References to the dog can also be found in Ancient Greek and Roman literature.

Photo: Halighalie

Malta has two official languages: English and Maltese. Thousands of Maltese children are being brought up in families where English is not spoken regularly. We have also thousands of children living on these islands whose first language is not Maltese. Although we are officially a bilingual society Maltese and English are taught in our schools as if these are two native languages that our children acquire automatically through schooling and socialization.

We have a one-size-fits-all language policy for all our children and schools. This has not worked as on average only 56% of our students walk away with passes in the Secondary Education Certificate (SEC) in English Language and Maltese. At least 44% of our fifth formers still do not manage to become competent in English Language and Maltese after at least 12 years of schooling. SEC and Junior Lyceum examiners still refer to poor spelling, weak grasp of grammar and syntax, poor reading habits and lack of imagination and creativity in their year reports on students’ performance in English Language and Maltese SEC and Junior Lyceum examinations.

To change all this we need to design appropriate curricula, examinations, syllabi, content and pedagogical methods in the teaching and learning of English and Maltese.

The Maltese SEC and MATSEC examination needs to be split into two different papers: a language component and another in literature. Our students should be given the option to choose one of these papers and a pass in the Maltese Language SEC and MATSEC exam should be enough to qualify them for a course at the University of Malta. Steps should be taken to modernise the teaching of Maltese and choose content that is more relevant to the young people going through their education now.

Forcing thousands of our teenagers to do a Maltese SEC syllabus that is closer to a pre-industrial Malta 80 years ago than to their daily life makes them hate Maltese literature and gives them the sensation that Maltese is a strange and remote language.

We have very good writers who are creating literature that is very relevant for young people growing up today but this literature is kept away from our schools.

Teaching material and methods have been developed to help foreigners learn Maltese but our schools do not make any use of these experiences. The same goes for the teaching of English where the success we have achieved in teaching the language to over a million foreigners has not been transferred to our schools to teach our own youngsters.

We should use the know-how and experience we have built in the sector of the teaching of English as a foreign language to improve the teaching of Maltese and English in our primary and secondary schools.