A classic: the new police video aimed at incoming TEFL students

Published: June 19, 2014 at 3:23pm

The best bit is the fake tragedy in Comino. This video is absolutely cast-iron-guaranteed to scare parents into cancelling their teenagers’ trip to Malta.

And it’s going to have zilch effect on the teenagers themselves.

I speak as one who knows.




97 Comments Comment

  1. Big Daddy says:

    And don’t disturb the natives during their siesta! They might get angry, refuse to shake your hand, and if you really piss them off they might bash your head in, like a fall from a cliff in Comino.

    • Rory says:

      Domine dirge nos. Deus nobis, more like it.

      Yes, de Maaltese enjoy der siesta and like to sleep at night, so don’t upset them. But it’s perfectly all right for the Maltese to upset other Maltese as well as foreigners, with loud festa fireworks throughout summer, practically 24/7.

    • TinaB says:

      They should have added “only the Maltese are allowed to do that.”

      Most of my neighbours are Maltese but we are only allowed to enjoy our afternoon siesta in our dreams – it’s either cursing and screaming at their children, or each other, continuously, or banging and moving furniture around, which can go on for hours. Today it’s the latter.

  2. albona says:

    At 38 seconds the Police are not Maltese. They look like Australian police to me.

  3. albona says:

    This is literally beyond belief. No doubt the students lost will be going to the UK or Ireland.

  4. Matt says:

    Christ, that image of a teenager with his head splattered on a rock. Not going for subtlety, are they?

    • M. Borg says:

      Ridiculous imagery. The danger of diving from cliffs is the risk of spinal injury and not of splatting oneself on a rock like a cartoon.

  5. pirellu says:

    I think that they need a TEFL course with that English

  6. Connor Attard says:

    I think it is a good idea for foreigners and Maltese alike. I made the mistake of leaving all my belongings unattended at the seaside once. Needless to say, they were stolen, and never seen again.

    As for the fake tragedy, I believe a good shock to the system can really drive the point home to people of my generation. Cliff diving can be lethal, period.

  7. wacko says:

    And dat inglixx iz so gud!

  8. Paul Borg says:

    Very amateurish video with horrible English diction – and to think it is aimed at students learning English as a foreign language in Malta. Very, very eastern European 1980s communist bloc 1980s…scary.

    • ciccio says:

      Exactly. The video should ‘alert’ visitors to risks, as opposed to ‘alarming’ them. This video does it the other way round.

      And that WPC sounds so patronising. I was expecting her to utter “I shall zay zis only wonce” at any moment.

      • Wenzu says:

        Its a ‘Superintendent’ – to add salt to the wound!

      • Natalie says:

        I agree, her diction is horrible, and she does sound condescending, but I’m sure she didn’t write the script herself. In real life she’s a nice person and very good at her job.

    • P Bonnici says:

      Paul Borg what English diction do you expect from someone who is non-native English speaker? This police woman pronounces English perfectly for a foreigner.

      English is one of the most difficult languages to pronounce for the Maltese.

      • Qeghdin Sew says:

        To a foreigner still learning English, her accent is much easier to understand than that of 90% of the Brits. Anyone who says otherwise needs to have some Glaswegian hell unleashed on them.

      • bob-a-job says:

        ‘English is one of the most difficult languages to pronounce for the Maltese.’

        Then you get someone professional to do the job.

        I just hope we are not going to descend to the ‘U iva, everything goes’ mentality again.

        We’ve been there and it doesn’t work.

        Unfortunately with the MLP in government, the only thing we seem to do professionally is make a fool of ourselves.

  9. observer says:

    This gives the overall idea that it is the police who are running TEFL schools and the Tourism Authority, if not the country in toto.

  10. Ian says:

    Lol – what kind of western holiday-maker is going to watch this video?

  11. Spock says:

    Apart from the ‘nicest beaches’ type of English ….

  12. golly says:

    It’s long tedious and boring. It shouldn’t be longer than 3 mins max. By the first minute teenagers would have switched off.

    They aren’t interested in seeing all the Malta promo shots. It needs to be direct and to the point. They needed a cool policeman/woman who is young to capture their attention.

    If a tunnel has a pavement it is intended for pedestrians. What about not walking in the middle of the roads, especially arterial roads?

    I love the put-on English accent then Maaaaaltaa crops up. Shouldn’t she be directing them to emergency services without stating that the emergency department has its limitations?

    • H.P. Baxxter says:

      Apparently, it’s now officially “MAAAAAlta.”

      Disgusting. And etymologically wrong.

      • Phonetician says:

        Why “etymologically” wrong? What link is there between pronunciation and etymology in this case? Perhaps you mean phonetically wrong. There isn’t even agreement among scholars regarding the etymology of “Malta” — so how can it be wrong?

        I do think, however, that if one is speaking English, Malta should be pronounced the English way. One says Italy not Italia, Spain not España, Greece not Hellas etc when speaking English.

        Possibly, when English speakers originally met with the word “Malta” they associated it with the word “malt” and just added an ‘a’ in pronunciation.

        In French it’s Malte now, though one will also find it spelt Malthe in older French texts and Gozo referred to as “le Goze”.

        Ironically, Gozo presents no problem since no one dreams of saying Ghawdex when speaking English. So why the inconsistency?

        True, the pronunciation in this video could have been better. Idem the choice of vocabulary. Once this is aimed at students who come over to Malta to study English, more attention could have been paid to this aspect.

        Technically it is quite good and, on the whole, I have a positive opinion of this police effort.

        Having said that, English is a foreign language to us Maltese and, as a Portuguese colleague of mine once remarked to me, it is unpatriotic to speak a foreign language perfectly.

        [Daphne – I disagree with your Portuguese colleague, though I imagine both he and you say that in jest. It is unpatriotic to speak foreign languages badly because it makes you look incompetent and lets the side down.]

      • WhoamI? says:

        Baxxter, to be perfectly honest, I think Maaaalta is the correct pronunciation. A name, wherever possible, should not take on a foreign pronunciation because the name forms part of a sentence in a different language. An example:

        If you were referring to a Frenchman called Gerard, you would pronounce it the French way, would you not?

        In other languages, there is a translation for countries’ name. Germany, Deutchland, Allemagne, etc. But Malta is Malta most of the time, so I reckon it needs to be Maaaalta.

        Feel free to correct me.

        [Daphne – I shall. Mawlta is the English name, Mahlta is the Maltese name. You should always give the name of the place in the language you are speaking. Names of towns don’t change, but names of countries and major cities of the Old World – i.e. Europe for Europeans – do. Hence, Milan, Milano, Miland; London, Londres, Londra. The fact that Malta is spelt the same in English and Maltese is an irrelevance. They are not the same word, no more than the English Paris and the French Paris are the same word, which they are pronounced completely differently despite being spelt exactly the same.

        Whenever I hear anybody say ‘I just got back from Milano yesterday,” I groan inwardly and think, what a t**ser. And there are some people who say, ‘Mort London il-gimgha l-ohra’ or ‘Tlajt Sweden.’ And they sound idiotic. Another thing that is insufferable: people saying Air Mahlta. It’s Air Mawlta, in English. That’s why it’s AIR and not ARJA or AJRU. Air Mawlta, not AjruMahlta.

        I hope this helps.]

      • silvio says:

        MALTA sounds nicer.

        MOLTA sounds too much like Maltesers..

        I am of the opinion that it was a very good production

        Pity that it was in English; most of the students don’t know a word in English. After all that’s what they come here for to learn. They might as well have done it in Maltese.

      • H.P. Baxxter says:

        It’s AirMaaahlta, and make sure your seatbeck is in the up ride position. Thank you for your copperation.

        [Daphne – And make sure your hand luggage doesn’t FOLLONYEW. Meanwhile, the emergency exits are CLEARLY SIGNED.]

        Regarding etymology, there is no Maaaalta sound (as in “arse”) in Arabic. There’s just “cat” and “awl”. The Arabic – sorry, Maltese – pronunciation of the word seems to have been “Mawlta”.

        One clue is that from the 16th to the mid-18th century or so, the French, nine times out of ten, wrote “Malthe”, which was the standard transliteration for the Arabic “awl” vowel.

        So the English pronunciation, entirely by accident, is closer to the original. Entirely by accident, before any of you anoraks jump in.

      • Qeghdin Sew says:

        Let’s stop this Mawltar non-sense.

        Unless you’re talking to a British person, this is the typical introductory conversation with a non-native English speaker:

        “Where are you from?”
        “Mawltar”
        “Where?”
        “Maaalta.”
        “Aaaah, Maaltaaaaa!”

        [Daphne – Their lack of education is their problem, not yours. An educated French person will tell you that he is from PariSSSS, and not from ParEEEE when speaking to you in English. Yes, condescend to the level of the uneducated by all means if communication is the priority, but for heaven’s sake don’t make out as though they’re in the right and you’re in the wrong because it’s the other way round.]

      • Gakku says:

        I agree that it should be “Mawlta” when speaking in English, but I’ve lost count of how many times I said “Mawlta” to Scandinavians, Germans and Eastern Europeans and got a blank face back.

      • WhoamI? says:

        I agree with Gakku here. Totally. This is why I started to pronounce it Mahlta not Mawlta especially with foreigners.

      • Qeghdin Sew says:

        @HP Baxxter

        ‘Regarding etymology, there is no Maaaalta sound (as in “arse”) in Arabic. There’s just “cat” and “awl”. The Arabic – sorry, Maltese – pronunciation of the word seems to have been “Mawlta”.

        So the English pronunciation, entirely by accident, is closer to the original. Entirely by accident, before any of you anoraks jump in.’

        I’d never thought of it that way, but that’s a good observation. Back then your typical Maltese would have said he’s from “Mwuulta”.

    • Barabbas Borg says:

      I live abroad – wherever I go I’m always asked the connection between Malta and Maltesers..

  13. Gigi says:

    I think this is an excellent initiative, though the clip is too long. Most viewers won’t watch till the end. I would have had a PC and a WPC to make it more interesting, and less of a tourism stunt too.

    Even if the teenagers won’t heed the advice, at least the parents can have a better idea of the place where they are dispatching their sons and daughters.

  14. Barabbas Borg says:

    Love the horses at the start :-)

  15. Osservatore says:

    Assuming we do not have a single WPC who is capable of speaking proper English, couldn’t we at least hire an actress instead?

    And why must it be the police? The MTA would have been as effective and if done professionally, this video could have been more contemporary and effective.

    Are we really a siesta-loving police state? A veritable South American style banana republic?

  16. Tracer says:

    At least they don’t call the country “Molta”

    • Tom Doube Thumb says:

      In some villages in Malta and Gozo they do pronounce it as MOLTA and not Maaalta.

      [Daphne – Yes, that’s how it’s pronounced in Bidnija, which for some reason has a different accent to Burmarrad a few metres down the road.]

      If I remember well, it was Mintoff on TV who suggested saying “Air Maaalta” and “Sea Maaalta”. Seems his suggestions are still binding commands.

      Maltese is a Semitic language and as such the vowel sounds vary. Which is correct Maltese: ragel, rogel, rugel or regel? I heard all those even if I cannot repeat the exact pronunciation.

      [Daphne – Nothing to do with it being a Semitic language. There is massive vowel variation in English.]

      • Barabbas Borg says:

        Exactly. Malte in French too, not Malta.

        You do have a foreign word for country names and we should also stick to it.

      • Gahan says:

        I think we have a right on how to pronounce our country’s name.

        I like Malta instead of Molta.

      • ken il malti says:

        There was family nick-named tal-rugel, although the word “man” was pronounced “ragel” in that particular town.

  17. Chris Ripard says:

    I’m sorry, but it’s a good effort. Bags of room for improvement by all means, but I can’t fault the police for giving a few pointers. Lord knows they have enough to do without babysitting post-pubescents too.

  18. Toni Borg says:

    Why on earth did they show that guy, even if he is an actor, sprawled across a rock with his head bleeding and half sunk?

    It’s not only disgusting but also scares people away not from our beaches but from our island!

    • ken il malti says:

      No it will not, it might do much the reverse like a blood sport draw.

      The only thing that might put off tourists from warm sea and sand are sharks.

      Remember, that after that Jaws movie hoopla, fine beaches around world were not as jam-packed with summer sun and sea loving people for a while, till the memory of that film died off or abated.

      I think the last shark attack fatality in Malta was in St Thomas bay in the summer of 1947, when a British teacher, surnamed Smedley, was killed by a (rare for Malta) hammerhead shark.

  19. Kevin says:

    I got the impression of a police state more than anything. This is the first time I have seen a tourist orientated video dominated by members of the police force.

  20. michael seychell says:

    This is a confirmation, if one was needed, of the professionalism of our police force.

    The sooner this video is withdrawn the better, as otherwise language schools will probably see a decrease of foreign students this summer.

  21. Liberalism oh dear says:

    All these dangers plus that dreadful Daphne Caruana Galizia, I will never return to Malta ever again.

  22. ken il malti says:

    The video is more of a tourist promotional video than anything else.

    The sight of those two adjacent rocks in Comino in this video will now give youngsters all the information they need for some daring high place jumping fun in the sun and sea.

    The adage in the mind of of young people is always: “Forget about the danger and think of the fun.”

  23. Pablo says:

    As noted before, Peter Paul, the Top Cop, is doing a great job as a caterer while giving a huge helping hand to our tourist industry. How we ever got by without these idiots amazes me.

  24. il-Ginger says:

    I thought it was genuine and good. Opinions…

  25. H.P. Baxxter says:

    Is it just me, or does this have Manuel’s ‘Law, Order and Castor Oil’ stamp all over it?

  26. H.P. Baxxter says:

    The only safety for TEFL students is a condom, as Lawrence explains in this promotional video:
    http://www.timesofbaxxter.com/index.php/think/item/215-come-to-malta

  27. NZ says:

    What is worrying me the most is the people on Times of Malta’s comments-board are saying what good promotion this video is, and what a great advert it is.

  28. Nighthawk says:

    Ginger Fat Boy on TV pontificating about the World Cup. Expert in everything is he? Like North Korea’s Dear Leader?

  29. Gigi says:

    @H.P.Baxxter

    Congratulations for the website. Since when has it been online? Did I miss the announcement? Or are you just being very subtle?

  30. manum says:

    No skinny dipping. That was hilarious.

  31. U Le! says:

    A tourist-oriented video produced by the police gives the underlying impression of a repressive police state.

  32. bob-a-job says:

    Very amateurish filming, terrible editing and extremely bad diction.

    I think the Force should stick to catering.

  33. bob-a-job says:

    Beat the pickpockets on the sea shore – Introduce nudist beaches

  34. Sister Ray says:

    Oh well, ba ba da da, ba ba ba da da http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAOQkSFTKMw

  35. botom says:

    Police Superintendent Sharon Tanti is a very dedicated officer. Yet this video is negative from the very beginning to the end.

    It portraits the Maltese as a bunch of neurotic people who will have you arrested and thrown into prison even if you sneeze during siesta time.

    There are so many positive things to say to visiting tourists, which were completed omitted from this video.

    This is a police production, so shouldn’t they have made a point of saying that Malta is one of the safest countries in the world? The video gives the opposite impression.

  36. Raphael Dingli says:

    The comments above about the accent and the “bad English” are purely gratuitous. She is speaking what for her is a second language.

    Not many people on the planet can speak a second language as fluently – accent not withstanding. I agree that the fake accident is overdone and too obvious.

    Is this presented in any other language, if not the advice in English about driving on the left is irrelevant to most English speaking countries except the United States and Canada.

    • P Bonnici says:

      I agree with you about the English accent, she pronounces English perfectly for a foreign speaker. I lived in the UK for 35 years since my teens, so I think I am a better judge.

      I think driving on the left is relevant because most English learners in Malta come from Europe where driving is on the right.

  37. Lomax says:

    This should alert visitors to how poor we really are intellectually. “Maaalta”. Good grief.

    “Do not leave personal belongings unattended on the beach”. There, they convinced me to take a dip in my clothes.

    For God’s sake.

    • Qeghdin Sew says:

      All those non-native English-speaking peasants calling it ‘Maaalta’ just like the Arabic Maltese. Xi tqalligħ ta’ nies, maaa.

  38. SALVATORE says:

    Is smoking illegal in Malta for under 18s, because that’s what she said in this video. If so, since when?

  39. RoyB says:

    The video “has been removed by the user”.

  40. nn says:

    video has been removed

  41. Chris says:

    I’m surprised at all the criticism afterall we’re Maltese that’s what we’re best at… criticizing everything.

    Personally I think its a good initiative, and tourists should respect the Maltese and our laws, we would be expected to do the same in other countries.. Also, I live in St. Julians, and many students can be very irritating with parties all night long during the week. Unfortunately some students need to be educated!
    Thank you Police Force for this video..

  42. Qeghdin Sew says:

    What is (was?) atrocious about this video is the patronising tone of the script, but somehow I doubt she’s the one to blame for that.

  43. C Mangion says:

    Damn, it’s been removed. Should have watched while it was doing the rounds on Facebook yesterday. Someone post a link please. Looked shite but I’m curious now.

  44. bob-a-job says:

    ‘The Maltese like to enjoy their siesta so do not make noise’

    In other words – let sleeping dogs lie.

    Oops- the video’s gone.

  45. Paul says:

    http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/court_and_police/40276/home_affairs_ministry_orders_removal_of_police_tourism_promo#.U6UsC9QaySN

    John Bundy who is ok with the video, still thinks it’s a Pajjiz tal-Mickey Mouse though.

  46. Disconcerted says:

    Students in foreign countries…they’re the same everywhere in the world. You can’t tame them with a video like this. You might as well sedate them as they head here.

    All these inconveniences they bring are the ‘occupational hazards’ of being a student host location. The only useful tip in all this was where to look when crossing the road. They would pay attention to that.

    All else was either stating the obvious or a thorough waste of time.

  47. Osservatore says:

    I hate to say this, but our country is being run by a bunch of primates who have only just realised that they have opposable thumbs and who think that this is sufficient for them to run a country. They cannot even take one step forward without having to take two steps back. What sheer and utter incompetence.

Leave a Comment