Speaking voice of honourable great leader of Malta reprogrammed in friendship by People’s Republic of China

Published: July 23, 2014 at 4:02pm

When did our prime minister begin mimicking (badly) the cadence of a Chinese Communist Party official?

Skip straight past the hackneyed footage of ‘tourist Malta’ to Alex ‘Tander’ Saliba, chief of the Labour Party’s Youth Forum (FZL), who goes wildly off-message with his ‘Dear Comrades’ and all that talk about wonderful socialists and socialism.

But it’s not for Maltese Taghna Lkoll consumption, so they think it doesn’t matter.

Imagine addressing a group of twenty-somethings with tal-pepe parents, all of whom voted Taghna Lkoll Labour last year, and opening with ‘Dear Comrades’.

They’d run a mile, which is why Labour doesn’t use Dear Comrades at home.

And again, the classic Maltese error of using ‘would’ instead of ‘will’ – you’d think with something as brief and highly scripted as this, they’d get it checked before recording.

“On x and x August, we would be discussing our political beliefs.”

We WILL be discussing our political beliefs. WILL. WILL, not would.

Or, better still, WE WILL DISCUSS OUR POLITICAL BELIEFS. Keep it simple, then you’ll make fewer mistakes with your verbs.

‘Would’ is a posher version of ‘will’, as so many Maltese of Tander Saliba’s sort appear to believe. It is a completely different word with a different meaning for use in a different sentence structure.




25 Comments Comment

  1. H.P. Baxxter says:

    And “will” is the Scottish version of “shall”. But Jo is now best mates with the fundamentalist Alex Salmond, so never mind.

  2. Calculator says:

    “Dear Comrades”? “Mother Party”? “Socialist”? All that’s missing is Russian choir music playing in the background.

  3. F.X. says:

    “Dear Comrades”? “Mother Party”? “Socialist”? (copy pasted from Calculator to save time)

    GOOD GOD!

    Mother Party?

    [Daphne – Well, you know, like the mother ship.]

  4. Adrian says:

    Maybe not related directly to this advert however worrying times! Take a frog and drop it in a pan of boiling water and it will jump right back out. Drop the frog in a pan of cool water and slowly turn up the heat. It will sit right there and eventually boil to death. Sound familiar?

  5. pablo says:

    Seven full days in which to discuss their values and beliefs. Wow, I’m impressed.

    • Josette says:

      I could save them some time:
      HIerarchy of beliefs within PL:
      1. Tagħna biss
      2. Tagħna biss
      3. Tagħna biss
      Acompanied by a chorus of “ġib ‘l hawn u tieħux ‘l hinn”.

  6. Neil says:

    Awerr velyooss
    Awerr belijfss
    (and worst of all) Awerr Mudderr Partij

  7. Tinnat says:

    http://www.timesofmalta.com/mobile/view/20140723/local/birdlife-members-to-be-investigated-over-possession-of-dead-birds.528953

    This is seriously, but seriously, screwed up. I cannot believe that a Magistrate worthy of his title would allow any organisation to play with the Courts in this way. Malta is no longer a State based on the separation of powers.

  8. three tree thank tank says:

    Why is it so difficult for the great majority of Maltese, including Joseph Muscat, to pronounce the English phonemes “th”, both versions — voiced as in “these” or “bother” and unvoiced as in “thin” or “truth”?

    I find it quite easy and I was brought up speaking Maltese at home.

    Both phonemes exist in Arabic and must have been lost to Maltese speakers at some point in time.

    Listening to Campus FM radio, one will hear Maltese senior academics unable to pronounce these two phonemes, not to mention the abysmal level of spoken English.

    Sometimes I wonder what sort of English is being taught to foreign students at our language schools.

  9. verita says:

    Mr. Forace the Maltese ambassador to China during the golden era, had explained to the nation the real friendship that China had for Malta.When two are on such sincere friendly terms they show it by pissing in each others pockets.Are they still doing it?

  10. Ruth says:

    Another classic Maltese error is using ‘next’ instead of ‘this’, when he’s clearly referring to August 2014.

    • Rumplestiltskin says:

      In British English usage, when one says “next Tuesday,” it means the Tuesday coming up. In US English, “next Tuesday” means the Tuesday following the one coming up. Where the British use “next,” the Americans use “this.” For the American “next Tuesday” the British would use “a week Tuesday.”

      From personal experience, this makes for missed appointments for someone using the British term in North America.

      [Daphne – I don’t know why anybody would say ‘this Tuesday’ or ‘next Tuesday’ when it’s the one coming up. I just say ‘on Tuesday’. Keep it simple.]

  11. White coat says:

    Dear Comrades, we invite you to the renaming of St George’s Square in Valletta: Red Square.

  12. The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.

    Winston Churchill

  13. Cpmrade says:

    ‘Next August’ implies August 2015. These people have no idea.

  14. RS says:

    They are either showing their true colours or else are shamelessly obsequious.At this rate they will soon address each other as Comrades in Arms against the evil capitalist pigs.

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