monolingualism. again.
Din bdiet bhala risposta li kont ser nikteb fil-blogg ta' David (Lanzarote) imma tant spiccat twila li ser nippowstjaha hawn bhala bloggata. Kienet speci ta' risposta ghal artiklu ta' KZT.
Ghalhekk bl-Ingliz.
Ghalhekk bl-Ingliz.
Englisch über alles
Perfect Maltese to preserve our national identity and perfect English, the world's lingua franca, to ensure that Malta will always be an integral part of the evolving global village that the world has become.
If the world has truly become one global village how is it that KZT and his ilk still treat it (linguistically) like a small English village?
What am I on about? Let's start off with a practical example shall we? An IT company with offices in Milan, Frankfurt and Paris would probably be interested in outsourcing their administrative work to a country such as Switzerland. Why Switzerland? Simply because it would be able to provide administraive support in FR, DE and IT plus English.
KZT, DCG & co have to collectively snap out of their historical narcolepsia. We were special when no-one else in Europe spoke more than a smattering of English ('cept Cyprus and Gibraltar of course) but pretty much everyone does now so we have no real linguistic edge over other European countries.
You might think that since English is our second national language (which, by the way, it isn't - it's an official language, our national language is Maltese) surely we've got an edge over our competitors by being more adept at it than, say, your average Spaniard or Ukrainian.
I disagree. The level of your average middle-class Maltese office worker is already good enough. Now, I want to make it perfectly clear I'm not advocating bad English, but business English is what it is - a rudimentary and very practical metalanguage. It's not Shakespeare's language, just a bastard language stripped of its innate poetry and emotional resonance - a language which pretty much anyone can master. This is the English they want and we can readily provide this... anyone can. Better our English? By all means. But it won't give us a competitive commercial edge if that's what we're after. I can't really imagine getting a call from the Hannover logistics office on line 5 wanting me to read them extracts from The Canterbury Tales...
I've said this before and I'll say it again - most post-Slimizi need to travel to, and preferably live in, non-anglophone countries and get some perspective. Perspective is useful. Especially if you're a columnist...
What am I on about? Let's start off with a practical example shall we? An IT company with offices in Milan, Frankfurt and Paris would probably be interested in outsourcing their administrative work to a country such as Switzerland. Why Switzerland? Simply because it would be able to provide administraive support in FR, DE and IT plus English.
KZT, DCG & co have to collectively snap out of their historical narcolepsia. We were special when no-one else in Europe spoke more than a smattering of English ('cept Cyprus and Gibraltar of course) but pretty much everyone does now so we have no real linguistic edge over other European countries.
You might think that since English is our second national language (which, by the way, it isn't - it's an official language, our national language is Maltese) surely we've got an edge over our competitors by being more adept at it than, say, your average Spaniard or Ukrainian.
I disagree. The level of your average middle-class Maltese office worker is already good enough. Now, I want to make it perfectly clear I'm not advocating bad English, but business English is what it is - a rudimentary and very practical metalanguage. It's not Shakespeare's language, just a bastard language stripped of its innate poetry and emotional resonance - a language which pretty much anyone can master. This is the English they want and we can readily provide this... anyone can. Better our English? By all means. But it won't give us a competitive commercial edge if that's what we're after. I can't really imagine getting a call from the Hannover logistics office on line 5 wanting me to read them extracts from The Canterbury Tales...
I've said this before and I'll say it again - most post-Slimizi need to travel to, and preferably live in, non-anglophone countries and get some perspective. Perspective is useful. Especially if you're a columnist...
posted by gybexi at diumenge, de març 12, 2006
25 Yays/Nays
L-aħjar keiku jkun li toħroġ għonqok u tibgħatha bħala ittra lill-gazzetti, b'link għall-blogg..
Allez-y, le vert...;)
naqbel ma' mark... ghal xejn titfaghha fil-blogg biss... hemm ukoll dan l-indirizz:
kzt@onvol.net
game set and match gybexi
should you care to use it, I also waive my intellectual copyright to what will henceforth be known as 'the cocktail party diss'.
but why POST-Slimzi?
kurt ghandu fissazzjoni fuq l-Islimizi... i think he loves the word
- tahsbu li jimpurtani bizzejjed biex niehu iktar azzjoni barra bloggata? tahsbu li ridt vera naghmel differenza b'dik il-bloggata minflok ktibtha hekk biex nghaddi naqra s-7 minuti sakemm ibaqbaq l'ilma ta' l-ghagin? Hekk tahsbu? Kemm sejrin zball mela.. ghandi hafna iktri x'nikteb (kwazi kollha komplennts lil hafna nies). ma rridx inzid maghhom. naf li t-ton tal-bloggata hi wahda ta' harq (mahruq) imma ma kontx u wisq inqas issa. rrrring!!! ejja nitfghu l-ghagin fl-ilma issa...
- Huma post-slimiz ghax hafna minnhom m'ghadomx tas-Sliema u qedghin jew jghixu postijiet bhall-Madliena u s-Swieqi jew is-Siggiewi u l-Qrendi.
- I love the word but I don't love them, Slimiz :p
Un administrador del blog ha eliminat aquest comentari.
Stenna ftit xbin. Inti kont qed tistenna biex ibaqbaq l'ilma ta' l-ghagin meta ktibt il-post originali u ANKI meta ktibt dan l'ahhar kumment? Il-knisja dinja kemm qed tiekol ghagin dan l'ahhar. B'dan il-livell ta'konsum ta'ghagin ghandi suspett li fil-fatt INT il veru columnist, FIFTH columnist li qed tiprepara ghal take-over eventuali u totali tal-lingua taljana f'Malta. Naqra imgebda, vera din. Ahjar waqaft erba sentenzi qabel nahseb.
Prosit Gybexi. Ovvjament naqbel mas-suġġeriment ta' Mark u ereżija. La ktibtha bl-Ingliż m'hawnx għalfejn taqlibha, kemm taqbad u tibgħat.
Xi xahar ilu xtaqt nibgħat ittra lit-Times biex nirrispondi lil Ragonesi u lil KZT, imma tant ħaraqni l-fatt li kelli nesprimi l-fehmiet tiegħi dwar il-qagħda tal-Malti bl-Ingliż (ħeqq, x'ironija hux, sakemm ma nibgħathiex lit-Torċa) li fl-aħħar l-idea abbandunajtha. Nibża' wkoll li jekk nibda nibgħat ittri lill-gazzetti nispiċċa nirrispondi għal kull risposta li nieħu, id-diskussjoni ma tispiċċa qatt u ttellifni mill-ħafna impenji u passatempi li diġà għandi. Min-naħa l-oħra, għalkemm nies bħal Ragonesi, KZT u DCG qatt m'huma se jitgħallmu għax wisq preġudikati, tajjeb li l-pubbliku qarrej jirrifletti fuq u forsi jiddakkru daqsxejn mill-ideat u l-viżjoni li int, jien u oħrajn għandna dwar is-sitwazzjoni lingwistika tal-pajjiż, kif ukoll dwar il-plurilingwiżmu in ġenerali.
Għoġobni ħafna l-eżempju li tajt ta' l-Iżvizzera. Dan bħal min iħobb jgħid li l-ilsien 'uffiċjali' (!) ta' l-internet, tat-teknoloġiji l-ġodda u tad-dinja globalizzata huwa l-Ingliż... Safejn naf jien l-internawti Spanjoli l-aktar websajts li jżuru jkunu bl-Ispanjol, iċ-Ċiniżi bil-Mandarin jew bil-Kantoniż, ir-Russi bir-Russu, eċċetera eċċitera.
Bilħaqq naħseb li diffiċli ssib xi post-Slimiż hawn il-Qrendi, jien qatt ma ltqajt ma' wieħed s'issa!
"Monolingualism is a curable disease." (Anon.)
Quick, quick, they're reciting Petrarch's sonnets on line 8!!!
hawn... ghax forsi l-post tieghi kienet naqra antipatka... il-punt tieghi hu ghalfejn niffukaw ir-rizorsi taghna fuq lingwa wahda BISS meta jista' jkollna hafna iktar x'noffru lingwistikament lill min jixtieq jinvesti f'Malta. Il-Maltin huma nies jahdmu (meta gejt hawn indunajt kemm il-Maltin, kontra l-klixxé, huma nies li veru jahdmu) imma jrid ikun hemm xi incentivi ohra le?
u barra min hekk il-bloggata kienet wahda ta' malajr u ma nahsibx hi ta' standard li tidher fuq gazzetta (erm... insomma... t-Times of Malta wara kollox..).
digger - ghandek Malti eccellenti ghal Iberno-Anglo. bis-serjeta qed nghidlek.
Bilħaqq naħseb li diffiċli ssib xi post-Slimiż hawn il-Qrendi, jien qatt ma ltqajt ma' wieħed s'issa!
Hemm qedghin - mohbija... going all rustic on us... jiggustaw il-kenur, jirristrrutturaw il-farmhouses fuq il-fil, isemmu l-klieb tal-kacca jew tal-fenek "Peppi" u "Grezz".
U QED JARAWK DEJJEM U KULLIMKIEN!
and they know what you did last summer, ta!
le kurt, l-ittra hija tajba u tghid xi haga li ftit huma l-Maltin li jafuha... taghmel zball jekk ma tibghathiex...
l-ironija tafu x'inhi... li xi zmien ilu bdejt nikteb ittra lill-gazzetta fuq l-istess linji u baqghet fuq il-hardisk tieghi.
qed nikkunsidra nibghatiex la nasal lura Brussell...
ma nafx jekk hux it-Times jew il-MaltaToday. Naqra ipokrita nibghata lit-Times billi rari naqraha dik il-gazzetta (ghalkemm qbatni con le mani nel sacco int alex meta gejt ghandi)
gybexi - l-ghazla f'idejk imma l-poplu qed jghidlek x'jahseb xbin: "Send this damn good letter or we'll rip your feet off". Honest. And post-Slimizi sounds too good to be left out even if I didn't get it before you patiently explained what it meant. I think we have a new concept here. I can already see a novel starting with the line: "Amanda, a sultry 35-year old housewife was a post-Slimiza." We need to inject some of these new categorizations into the common immagination. Hamalli/tal-pepe, Labour/Nazzjonalist are becoming outdated.
Jiena bagħttlu link għal 'Il-Kuntest Kollox' etc etc.
Kurt, kieku nkun minnek nibgħatha, imma ma tkunx idea ħażina lanqas li wara li noħolqu struttura sura ninformaw lill-ġurnali Maltin li neżistu.
forsi aħjar isir ftit xogħol bil-galbu qabel ma nibdew nirrekklamaw lilna nfusna...
Naqbel ma' ereżija fuq din. Ejjew ma ngħaġġlux!! Kif jgħid il-Malti, bis-sabar u biż-żmien...
Toqgħodx lura milli tibgħatha, Bex!!
(Bilħaqq ma nafx togħġbokx dik it-taqsira, naħseb Sharon kienet l-ewwel waħda li użatha. Tfakkarni fil-verb bexx {to wet, to spray, to sprinkle}... aħajr nuża Gybexi naħseb)
Kemm daħħaktni bid-deskrizzjoni tal-post-Slimiżi Qrendin!
The debate seems to have moved on from the issue of learning perfect English to whether or not gybexi should post the letter. I agree broadly with the letter gybexi, that speaking perfect English offers no real competitive advantage in many fields, but if you do wish post the letter, I think that there are a few things worth keeping in mind first:
1) teaching of English as a foreign language is a multi million ewro concern in Malta, with Malta, apart from Britain and Ireland being the only countries able to offer a "native speaker" environment. Malta is the only one This may be a spurious claim, but it is one which yields real economic benefits, and not just for the fat cats but also for households which act as host families.
2) As a tourist destination, English has obvious benefits to Malta. If am not mistaken, the majority of tourists, albeit mostly at the lower end of the market are still from the UK. Bugibba bar owners have mouths to feed just like everyone else.
For tourists whose SECOND language is English, I think it is also beneficial for Malta to be the only nation in the Mediterranean which has English as a national language.
I am not sure what the point of KZT's original letter was, apart from an empty platitude to say that people should learn perfect English. Yes, well I suppose that they should learn perfect Maths, Chemistry, Economics and French. But a perfect world it ain't.
digger - botta et riposta it is, then.
SPB/Qawra pub-owners can all suck my richard for all I care.
the bevvy of scandinavian beauties who come here to learn EFL can all su...
as far as our English tourists are concerned... I can't imagine Derek and Margaret Thompson from Essex on line 5 wanting me to read them extracts from The Canterbury Tales.
Our public schools should teach kids propr life skills (esp. for those considering a career in the entertainement and tourism industry): more FC Liverpool statistics and more on the dual arts of advanced deckchair opening and peanut-to-beer rationing than Shakespeare, Dante, Molière, Newton, Pythagoras or - heaven forbid - the Curies.
Then we'll be Europe's mean(est), lean(est) tourism machine. We'll be invincible! INVINCIBLE! Bring it on Mallorca, Cyprus, Tenerife & co!
I think you write off Bugibba too quickly gybexi. Bugibba may be a rotting hulk of a town but it is the hulk upon which the rest of Malta is supported. If it were to vanish, I fear that the whole island would sink into the sea. For you, life in Malta may mean discussing the works of Ruzar Briffa over some pickled gbejniet on the quaint balcony of some rustic farmhouse while a friendly karozzin driver waves to you as he passes through the cobblestoned streets below. But I warn you that that life could not be supported without Bugibba, with its fish and chips, its cartoon violence and its streets strewn with piles and piles and piles of rubbish. You can't have one without the other. Your implied course of action, to take away their bingo and their beer and let them eat Francis Ebejer plays and Olivier Friggieri poems will lead to scenes mayhem and riots the likes of which we have never seen. I tell you only this: the streets of Bugibba have burned before and they will burn again. But take heed - the next time Mdina will burn with them.
Mgarr will burn with them.
Hal-Safi will burn with them.
Yes, even Hamrun will burn with them.
ah kemm jien snob xi dwejjaq :)
Interessanti. Fish&chips, teenage booze holidays, hordes of chavs looking for a foreign fakk: altogether making up a pillar of the Maltese economy.
Thank god (or whoever) for British mediocrity. Without it, this island wouldn't be such a prosperous (or should that be preposterous?) place.
Soon in Wied iż-Żurrieq and Għar Lapsi the plat du jour will be baked beans on toast rather than qarnita or pizza margherita...
Dear gybexi and cyberdigger - I invite you to visit my translation site "Il-Ktieb". You'll love Chapter III, i. Twanny will too, I'm sure. I actually wrote a special dedication for the two of you on my normal blog with an easy link to "Il-Ktieb" but 'Lanzarote' has vanished into thin air today.
Enjoy anyway.
Yes, I noticed that Lanzarote had gone because I was trying to create a link for it on my blog. What are the dark forces which have removed it? What evil skullduggery is afoot? What sinister machinations has KZT's cabal concocted to obstruct the path of free speech? What unholy powers dare to shackle the right to free-form blogging? Oh sorry, it's back now.
I will certainly read your translation of Lanzarote as I am a big Houellebecq fan. I think that you are just a little bit crazy to be translating into Maltese though. But crazy in a good way.
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