Yes, the ban on spring hunting has made a positive difference
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If only we could discuss this subject without having hysterics or getting fanatical (and both sides of the hunting divide can be very fanatical).
Those who argue in favour of an end to the ban on spring hunting say that it makes no difference anyway because they don’t shoot protected species. That may be so, but the fact remains – and this is indisputable – that the presence of hunters and the constant sound of gunfire frightens birds away. Even birds have some kind of brain, and they’re not going to set foot anywhere they hear guns unless they are dying of exhaustion.
I have lived in this house for almost 20 years. In all that time, spring has been like living in Sniper Alley. And the only birds around have been common sparrows and shot robins around December. Birds of passage have been so very rare that the sole occasion on which I saw a pair of hoopoes in our garden remains engraved in my memory – along with that other memory of men with guns lying in wait outside our gate.
Last year, our garden was like an aviary. The sound of birds was overwhelming. And for the first time ever, there were golden orioles in our mulberry tree. I am in no doubt at all that this is the direct result of the ban on spring hunting. Except for the occasional rogue gun-shot by somebody unable to contain himself, the valley has been peaceful and the only sound that of birds. It is a wholly unusual experience and a very pleasant one.
I was wondering, thanks to the angry debate elsewhere on this blog, whether the orioles would be back this year. And just now, I was startled by their unmistakable call. I’ve just been outside and there they were: two vibrant flashes of bright yellow. Sitting here at my desk, I’ve seen one of them fly past the window right now. It seems amazing that in all this time I should never have experienced this before. But the relentless sound of gunfire turned every spring into a dead place.
So the issue remains. Those who love to shoot want to shoot. And those of us who don’t love to shoot, or who are simply indifferent to it, would opt for the birds any day. Two sets of strong preferences, each tugging against the other.
I can understand that the shooters are angry. What I can’t understand is why some of them insist that spring hunting makes no difference to the temporary bird population. It does. I can vouch for that. While we have to understand why hunters are angry, hunters must try to understand how and why they make life unpleasant for the rest of us.
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I’ve been told that peregrine falcons (once our chief luxury export product) are once again nesting in Malta.
There is no doubt in my mind that the pastime of hunting to kill birds is nowadays a great anachronism, as, thank God, the country is well past the era when ‘hunting’ for birds was a way to feed the large families. I however also understand the sincere anger of hunters, which is mostly arising from the fact that, over the past centuries, they had become an untouchable breed, free to roam all over the country, and shoot at their will’s content, but now they need to adjust to today’s reality. The same goes for bull fighting and fox hunting, but that’s another story which I am not directly concerned with, as it does not affect the natural environment which we are all entitled to enjoy. I know that plate-shooting may not be half as exciting, and rather expensive, and I would suggest some of the funds dedicated to environmental matters be diverted to encourage and subsidise this sport.
What about fishing? I mean as a pastime. I’m neither a hunter nor a fisherman, but I’ve always wondered why people condemn hunting but not fishing, except maybe due to the fact that hunters actually bother people more than they bother birds, while fishing disturbs no one except the fish. And you usually get to eat the fish later. Any arguments?
[Daphne – Yes, the main objection to hunters is that they bother people. Malta is just too small.]
S. Calleja. I occasionally go fishing (and even more occasionally actually catch something) with rods, from on shore, which is virtually harmless to the fish population, but even then, I throw everything back unless I’m going to eat it or, very occasionally, use it as bait. I condemn the use of ‘pariti’ close to shore. These decimate the fish population since, when used close to shore, they eliminate juveniles before they reach breeding age, in fact, they are non-discriminatory and eliminate everything. Fishing (Angling would be a better word) requires skill, patience and effort and causes very little disturbance and that’s why it’s far more socially acceptable than hunting, which causes disturbance and requires little skill (especially since most hunters use artificial bird-calls, illegal repeater guns and illegal shot).
I have dallied both with ‘hunting’ (long, long ago in my mis-spent youth) and MOS (as it was then) membership (still long ago, along with wife and two small children) and I still occasionally go and kill a couple of God’s creatures – if I’m very lucky and one impales itself on my hook, and it’s a) edible and b) large enough, which happens about once every couple of years, so I think I’m fairly moderate on this score.
I sympathize with the few genuine hunters there are, i.e. those who don’t shoot at protected species. I’m pretty sure that they are in a small minority, since almost all those acquaintances of mine who used to or still hunt would openly admit to shooting protected species in private conversation. Practically every time I saw a bird of any sort whilst on an early-morning fishing trip I would hear gunshots.
I personally would not object to hunting if the hunters only shot at turtle doves and quail, but I know that this is virtually impossible. they shoot at anything and the sad thing is that the majority of them will use every means available to help each other shoot illegally, including setting up a network equipped with eavesdropping radios.
Birdlife have become fanatical abolitionists, which isn’t right either. All this crap about wind turbines killing millions of birds each is a case in point.
I don’t think there’ll ever be a happy solution which will satisfy both groups, but I think it’s time for the pendulum to swing the way and give the hunters a small break, in the hope that the genuine ones (who they say are in the majority) will police the poachers amongst them. I would suggest a very limited spring season – amounting to about 30% of the migration. Whether this is on a staggered basis (one day in three over a 4 or 6 week period) or on a definite period basis – a 9 or 14 day open season, I would leave to the Ornis committee to decide.
I would also try to regulate the number of birds killed by means of tags, whereby a plastic, numbered tag is attached to the foot of a shot (legal) bird. The total number of tags distributed amounting to a ‘sustainable’ number and being distributed amongst hunters by their organisations, with records being kept. Any unused tags would have to be returned and would not be transferable. Different colours can be used for different seasons. This would finally provide some empirical data about bag scores and end the controversial posturing once and for all. Some kind of system to discourage cheating would need to be found. Perhaps charging €5 per tag and refunding €3 for each unused tag might be a start, with the number of tags you get the following season being equivalent to your bag for the current one, plus 10% with a minimum of, say 10 and a maximum of, say 40. (E.g. you buy 30 tags and kill 20 birds – next season you’re allowed 22 tags. If, on the other hand you only bag 3, you can still get 10 tags next season).
Complicated? You bet! And it could get lots more complicated still. There’s a recession on and we need to generate employment somehow…
We have had sportsmen representing us as a nation and doing us proud in various national and international shooting sports competitions. I have only one question to which I would appreciate an honest answer. Why cannot our hunters turn to such sports without killing off birds? Surely, they do not need to feed on their prey.
I remember 30 years back, having borrowed some “Guns & Ammo” magazines that featured trap-shooting equipment, using aluminium drinks cans as targets. Obviously times have moved on.
Please enlighten me.
Any hunter will tell you it’s not the same thing. With clay pigeons, there’s no hunting instinct involved, and no “pleasure” of having destroyed something beautiful. Hunting is much more than target shooting.
I’ve always wondered, what’s in it for the hunters? Do they eat the birds? I sincerely doubt that they eat every bird they shoot down. The pride of getting more birds than their neighbour? The pleasure of shooting a living creature?
Can someone describe what pleasure there is in hunting?
Personally, I’m not particularly fanatical about this whole issue, but I am fascinated by the obsession of certain hunters, and the vehemence on their forums.
Guess it must be a bit like coffee, cigarettes, or any other vice. There’s no real pleasure involved, but once you get used to it, it becomes a pleasure satisfying your craving. Some people go to extremes and make it a way of life, a bit like drug addicts I suppose.
I go to the Maghtab range on occasions. I simply don’t know why the hunters don’t do the same. I don’t really get why hunting birds is fun, because there is no risk. The only fun they can get out of it is by shooting a gun and hitting an object out of the sky. So the alternative is clearly clay pigeon shooting.
Real hunters hunt animals that could kill or injure them, like wild boar or moose or stag, because of the risk. Some hunters go as far as to hunt with bow and arrow; that I can fully understand and is irreplaceable.
The valley is not peaceful Daphne and you know this. I live near where you live and between 9pm and 10pm they open fire on anything they can kill. I do’nt really know how they see in the dark but they still shoot.
I have found a lot of dead birds in my field recently!
[Daphne – It is extremely peaceful. I work at home so I can say that for a fact. There are the occasional night-shots, but those people are hunting rabbits, not birds. And last week there were some rogue shots during the day, which I mentioned on this blog, but that’s about it. Compared to the simulation of Bosnia in the early 1990s, of previous years, this is bliss.]
Veru veru ghandek ragun li naqqa hafna imma ghandi insib ghasafar mejtin ta.
ma nafx jekk inutajtx ukoll li xi ftit xhur ilu qatlu tajra kbira hafna, kienet ila xi 5 ijiem idur u taqghad fil wied umbad spiccajt mimlija comb.
[Daphne – Kien qalli biha t-tifel, fil-fatt.]
Daphne, sorry this is out of context but I was waiting for you to comment on the teachers’ strike on Thursday. Do you think it was plain coincidence that MUT and that moaner Mr. Bencini scheduled this strike for the day which falls before the public holiday on Friday, thus ensuring a nice long weekend break for the teachers. Could it be that their recent Easter holidays were not long enough and they needed another break?
[Daphne – It’s a funny phenomenon, but when one no longer needs to have anything to do with school, one tends to blank out teachers and their irritating behaviour. Over the years, I’d had it up to here with teachers and their relentless excuses for yet more holidays and free time. Parents’ meetings held during the day instead of in the evening, for example: so that the children get a day off school and both parents have to take a day off work. In an independent school with 500 children, that’s 500 working fathers and at least 150 working mothers, which means 650 days of leave of absence from work so that 50 teachers don’t have to give up one evening. Then there were all those ‘teacher training days’ – also held on school-days rather than on Saturdays. It was insufferable. So I’m quite sure you’re right and that the strike was called for Thursday to give them a four-day break over a long weekend. I’m so glad I don’t have to deal with any of that anymore.]
I’m married to a teacher and used to think the same as you before I settled to live with someone whose work rarely stopped before 9pm. There re teachers…and teachers. Don’t make easy assumptions. After nursing, it’s probably the toughest service job around.
[Daphne – It’s not a tough job with three months of paid holiday leave in the summer and another month off over Christmas and Easter. Four months of getting paid for doing nothing – that’s fabulous. Now listen to this story: state-school teachers who were seconded to a government agency in a completely unrelated field KEPT THEIR WORKING HOURS AND CONDITIONS INTACT. Even though they were seconded to an office environment doing work that had nothing at all to do with teaching, they didn’t go in to work for the whole of the summer, took two weeks off at Christmas and another two weeks at Easter, and left work after lunch. I don’t know how their colleagues tolerated it. When the new administration at the government agency clamped down on this abuse – they didn’t see it as abuse, but as taking their working conditions with them to their new place of work – they opted out of secondment and went back to teaching. I couldn’t believe it.]
That’s another issue…of course scandalous….however, you shouldn’t (without living the experience yourself) declare that it is not a tough job. Teachers get lots of leave in every western EU country (e.g. in the UK an extra three weeks for mid-term holidays. It’s true in Malta they effectively get another month, but you also need to factor in the pay. In EU teachers get twice the salary they make in Malta. A qualified teacher in Malta takes home one thousand euros a month.
[Daphne – Yes, but then their working year is just eight months, compared to the standard 11 months. What you see is the EUR1000 a month for hard work. You also have to see the EUR1000 a month for four months of doing nothing or working at another job. It’s true it isn’t exactly a fantastic salary, but there are obviously considerable perks or you wouldn’t have people queuing up to become teachers. Nobody is queuing up to become a nurse. “In EU teachers get twice the salary” – where? Romania, Poland, Portugal, Italy, Bulgaria?]
A teacher in Malta works 19.5 hours a week max – usually actual contact hours falls to around 16 hours a week. If any extra training is needed it will have to be taken out of that load. Compare that to what teachers are expected to do in the UK. A good example of teacher mentality can be seen in the case of the Java course offered recently. Teachers went to the MUT because – i) some ‘home work’ was assigned and ii) because the course would have extended their ‘working hours’ by 30 minutes.
And there I was thinking that reading The Malta Independent would help me improve my English
http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=87076
I loved the part where the victim ‘run behind the robber’ and when the defendant told another man ‘to get off the car in Msida’.
Today was especially good in Bidnija. I saw a flock of birds whose feathers shimmered like gold in the sun and there was a soaring bird high above (sorry but I am hopeless with bird names). I just had to stop and admire and pray that no shots would be fired. There is usually gunfire in the morning and I hope the rascal gets caught.
[Daphne – The golden birds are orioles. There were a few of them about today. I’m not sure it’s such a great idea mentioning it, though.]
Last Sunday we were enjoying an afternoon walk in L-Ahrax tal-Mellieha, when a pair of strange looking birds seemed to be floating in a stationary position right above us, not more than a storey high. My girlfriend told me they were ospreys, and that they go around in pairs. I realised I had never seen an osprey in my life; they looked beautiful. A few minutes later two young men came along, they were very agitated, following the ospreys and ‘insulting’ the birds, ‘f’oxx kemm ghandhekk, li kieku kellhi is-senter nurik…ah l$%ba!’ Don’t tell me that this is instinct; surely this must be a psychotic condition, some people feed on brutality. The peaceful surroundings; the smell of flowers and greenery, the sea surf hitting the rocks below us, just did not register on these two brutes.
Darren, you are right. This is a mass psychotic position that defies all logic. It’s so destructive that it comes out in various unspeakable ways, like the attack on Mnajdra when the government tackled the hunters.
You only have to go to some Rabat bars in the morning, Crystal Palace being one of them (no disrespect to the owner, he has nothing to do with this) to see worse. Layabouts (no doubt government employees in their majority) wearing monti-bought camouflage trousers, caps and jackets as if they are in some Vietnamese jungle operation, swearing their heads away and bragging about the birds they have shot, and I don’t mean quail or pigeon either.
Hearing them speak, I realised one thing. Their prey is not just birds. It’s us. They have issues with decent people living normal decent lives. They have issues with society as a whole. They see themselves as some kind of guerrillas fighting against a population that has grown tired of them, and which does not want them. They are proud of it. Unfortunately they are cowards and bullies, who will run a mile if challenged unless they have a gun.
That’s my assessment, and it explains why some of them have resorted to anti-depressants and some of them have topped themselves.
I may be extreme, but the only way to get rid of this stigma in our society is by forcibly excising the boil. We need to make such an example of these poachers that no one will try it again. I don’t mean capital punishment. I mean capital confiscation. If a poacher is caught, I would confiscate whatever he has…..house, car, bank account, just as if he was a drug runner.
The hunting fraternity has done enough harm to society and to their very children and families with this culture of might is right, I-do-as-I please attitude. It’s time they go quietly into the night. If not, then we need to legislate to outlaw these outcasts.
The hunters started their slow death when five years ago their leaders contested the EU elections .They instructed their followers to give the first preference to their political party (PN or MLP) and then put the number two near the FKNK candidate. In my opinion no political party will bend over backwards to defend the 3,000 hunters who did not vote PN or MLP.
Hunters were promised hunting in spring: “ogni promessa e’ un debito”.
I have some fields. This year there were no signs of trespassers, like damaged rubble walls, or trampling on crops and tilled land. Now I can go and enjoy ‘working’ my land in peace without showers of hot lead and without trappers asking me to duck because there are some song-birds around. Up to last Sunday there was a cuckoo in one of the carob trees. I am noticing more ramblers in my area. The ALE police patrol the area from high grounds.
‘you wouldn’t have people queuing up to become teachers.’
I’m sorry but you are misinformed.
[Daphne – Oh, you mean the teacher’s course at the university is under-subscribed? The problem is the SORT of people who rush to go into teaching.]
Under-subscribed my foot. Last time I saw a lecture hall packed with primary school teachers to be. There were at least 200.
A friend of mine who is in that course recently told me that she has also started a part-time job as nail-technician apart from the teaching. So you see, she’ll have four months full-time nail-technician work while getting her teaching salary and eight months full-time teacher and part-time nail technician. No wonder 200 students enroll each year in that course.
Well, Daphne, my daughter’s one of them. What SORT of person do you think she is? Let me tell you. She’s intelligent, capable and competent and she has a vocation for imparting knowledge and life-skills to chidren.
As Edward says, there are teachers and teachers. Let’s not start knocking students BEFORE they become teachers, even before they start their course. Let’s wait and see the result, please. Your remark shows prejudice.
Now, I agree with you that the MUT should be ashamed of themselves for their petty and inconsiderate ways. With their militancy, they are counter-productive and have given the profession a bad name but you cannot tar all teachers with the same brush, much less tar people who plan to become teachers.
And just for your information, the entrance requirements for the B. Educ. course are considerably more stringent than for most bachelor’s courses. I don’t know the details, but as far as I recall, you need more MATSEC passes than for most other courses, as well as an ECDL, and FLUENCY test passes in Maltese and English. At least, this stringency does provide some kind of defence from graduates (such as the elephant man) who are barely fluent or literate in any language.
And, to all those of you who are envious of teachers’ 4 months of holidays, let me ask a simple question. Why didn’t you become teachers yourselves?
“And just for your information, the entrance requirements for the B. Educ. course are considerably more stringent than for most bachelor’s courses.”
I know some people who chose the B. Educ course because they found bailed out of a much tougher B.Sc. course.
“I don’t know the details, but as far as I recall, you need more MATSEC passes than for most other courses,”
So having fifteen o levels would make you a better teacher? In the end you’d be teaching one or two subjects, or three at most. You are born to be a teacher, not made. No amount of studying can make you a better teacher.
“as well as an ECDL, and FLUENCY test passes in Maltese and English.”
ECDL is for donkeys. Even a plant can learn to use Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office. The idea of having fluency tests for MALTESE is laughable. Maltese students getting tested for Maltese fluency. Ha ha ha. It would to be the utmost insult to make french students undergo a French fluency test.
“And, to all those of you who are envious of teachers’ 4 months of holidays, let me ask a simple question. Why didn’t you become teachers yourselves?”
I chose not to become a teacher maybe because the pay sucks, even with 4 months of holidays. The reason the wages are low is because there is an oversupply of teachers. And there is an oversupply in teachers teaching languages. There are few teachers teaching sciences and technology and which are much in need. However, many B.Ed students prefer to go for easier teaching subjects like history, art, drama and primary school stuff even my semi-literate grandmother could teach. Finding a teacher teaching computer science, physics or biology is like a trying to find the holy grail.
primary teachers graduated 2001 – 50-60
primary teachers to graduate in 2010 – less than 30
Looks like John Meilak must be mistaken.
“FLUENCY test passes in Maltese and English” – the fact that the University requires students to pass a fluency test even though they have o’level passes in these subjects shows what faith it has in its examination system.
Secondly, don’t let the fluency test kid you. The amount of teachers I’ve come across who cannot speak (or write) English is beyond belief.
Simply put – they have become a joke.
@ NGT:”The amount of teachers I’ve come across who cannot speak (or write) English is beyond belief” .
So what? As long as they’re not teaching English I don’t see it as a problem. I see it as an extra if they know a second language (in our case English). The problem would be if they don’t understand their text books which normally are in English.
[Daphne – Teachers in Malta should be bilingual, John, for the simple reason that this is a bilingual country and one of the things they are meant to be teaching their pupils, indirectly or directly, is pronunciation and the correct use of words. It is impossible for an English-speaking pupil to take a teacher seriously when that teacher muddles words and has atrocious pronunciation. I distinctly remember that every time our geography teacher spoke about a place she called Petegohnia, the class would erupt into giggles and that was the end of that. How can a person in Malta call himself – or herself – educated with a poor knowledge of English and linguistic skills only in Maltese? What this means is that the person in question has had no access to anything written or broadcast in a language other than Maltese, which is very limiting.]
Shouldn’t teachers in Malta teach their subjects in the mother tongue, so that the students understand what the teacher is trying to impart?
[Daphne – Technically yes, if the sole aim is to ensure that the children understand. But there is a secondary aim, which is to ensure that they become fluent in English to save them from living restricted lives.]
Teachers in Europe speak only one language. Why should our teachers speak fluently two languages? Teachers in France don’t need to know another language.
[Daphne – That’s because French is a major language, and those who speak only French can read works of literature, fiction, history and science, etc, in French, while the same can hardly be said of a minority or ‘special interest’ tongue like Maltese. Speak only Maltese and you are handicapped for life.]
The majority of our children speak Maltese , why should the teacher speak in English because a student does not understand Maltese?
[Daphne – Teachers should speak in English not because their pupils can’t understand Maltese, but because they pupils can’t understand English and must be made to learn it. If they’re not learning it at home, they have to learn the language at school, and special English lessons, like they get for Italian and French, are not enough – not unless you are especially keen on the current situation in which Maltese children now know roughly as much English as they do French.]
Isn’t this minority rule? What would they do in France or in Italy in this situation? Answer:The foreign student takes a crash course during the summer holidays learning the language.
[Daphne – Surely you are not suggesting that we Maltese end up reduced to the level where our knowledge of English is as atrocious at that of the French and the even more hideously handicapped Italians? Listening to an Italian trying to communicate in English is like walking on broken glass. But then what am I saying? We’re already there.]
Wasn’t Maltese removed as an obligatory subject from some degree course in the University of MALTA.
It’s a positive thing to know more than one language, but we know, for example that an Italian teacher has a right to teach Italian in Malta even though he doesn’t speak English at all?
John Schembri: It was a teacher of English who once told me “tomorrow I am taking my engage”.
In an O’level listening comprehension students listened to a story about Brighton (which is what they wrote) when in fact the word was meant to have been pronounced ‘Briton’. Not to mention the “Far-owahz tambz” (Pharaoh’s tombs) a few years earlier which students found rather difficult to understand. This should not happen is a so-called bi-lingual country… more so under examination conditions.
You should also consider the fact that all university courses are delivered in English (or are meant to be) and after three or four years of writing assignments, a 12,000 word dissertation, reading text books &c… you’d expect all graduates to have a decent grasp of the language. Standards have slipped because arguments like yours are used to justify this. It reminds me of when BEd students who aspired to become French teachers once complained to their faculty administrator because they expected Viki Cremona to deliver her lectures in Maltese and not French… because ‘we’re Maltese not French’.
Comparing us to mono-lingual countries where English is not normally spoken is rather lame as is your ‘minority-rule’ question since you’re assuming that speaking English in Malta is a privilege of the few – which is rather sad since it is this mentality which has led to the rejection of a world-language in such a small community.
‘I chose not to become a teacher maybe because the pay sucks, even with 4 months of holidays.’
That says a lot.
‘There are few teachers teaching sciences and technology and which are much in need.’
I see, so it’s the old sciences versus arts debate is it. Biology is more difficult than history, French is easier than Physics, etc, etc., so Physics teachers are heros whilst English teachers are lazy slobs, is that what Mr Meilak is trying to say? More prejudice.
It’s a question of aptitude. Some people take to languages, some people take to sciences, some people take to both. Actually, I think that sciences are probably easier to teach in the Maltese context, where parrot knowledge is preferred and comprehension and interpretation are sidelined.
Still, at least we’ve moved forward from condemning all teachers. Now it’s just those that don’t teach the sciences and IT…
could you correct a mistake in the 2nd par please – “not TO mention”. Thanks
“You should also consider the fact that all university courses are delivered in English (or are meant to be) “
Lectures are delivered in English only when there are foreigners around. Before the lecture starts, the lecturer always asks if everyone understands Maltese. If so, it is done in Maltese, as it should be.
[Daphne – Nope, you are quite wrong. The language of instruction at the university is English. This is official, and that’s why the university is able to sell its courses to non-Maltese. The lecturers you mention do that not because their students are linguistically incompetent, but because THEY are. They feel uncomfortable delivering a lecture or taking a tutorial in English, and so they use that ‘we’re all in this together, none of us really likes English’ approach by referring their personal problem to their students, who may share it. The university authorities should clamp down on this practice immediately, because it is a disservice to students.]
“and after three or four years of writing assignments, a 12,000 word dissertation, reading text books &c… you’d expect all graduates to have a decent grasp of the language.”
That’s not true. Just doing the course assignments won’t make your English better. If you had bad English at the beginning of the course and you never read a single extra-curricular book till the end of the course you’ll still have bad English. I know some graduates still struggling with ‘where’ and ‘were’ or ‘its’ and ‘it’s’.
[Daphne – And how is teaching in Maltese going to help students with a such serious deficiencies?]
“Standards have slipped because arguments like yours are used to justify this. It reminds me of when BEd students who aspired to become French teachers once complained to their faculty administrator because they expected Viki Cremona to deliver her lectures in Maltese and not French… because ‘we’re Maltese not French’.”
Well, I once heard that a student asked her teacher ‘what’s “imperu ingliz” ‘ during a Systems of Knowledge lesson. Can the situation be more pathetic than that? A Maltese student asking such a question at post-secondary level? English is important, but knowing your mother tongue is equally important for christsakes.
[Daphne – Actually, knowing Maltese is not as important as knowing English. It is much, much less important. It is important only for those who don’t want to be thought fools (because honestly,I can’t understand how people who have lived for 40 years and more in this country claim to be unable to speak Maltese), and who wish to communicate in certain parts of the working world. That’s about it. English, on the other hand, is not important but crucial, essential. Without it, Maltese people are so badly handicapped that they might as well be illiterate.]
However, when I’m in my own country, on native soil why should I speak in English?
[Daphne – Because if you don’t, you won’t get enough practice and it will show. I’ve noticed that even people who start off with perfect English begin to slip and make mistakes when they spend their entire working life speaking only Maltese. You practice English for your own sake, not for anyone else’s. It really is so very painful hearing many Maltese people try to speak English.]
I understand the fact that not knowing English can limit you very much in foreign countries, but I don’t see the motive for speaking English here when most of the population understands Maltese.
[Daphne – Not speaking English limits you as a person, John, regardless of whether you are living in Malta or elsewhere. People who speak only Maltese will have never read a decent book in their lives, cannot read proper newspapers or magazines, cannot follow documentaries, news programmes or even shows on English-language television, can’t even watch the good films on at the cinema and work out what’s being said. What you’re saying is no history, no art, no literature, not even any popular contemporary culture in the form of periodicals. The level of ignorance among Maltese people who speak very little English or none at all is, consequently, astounding. And it is tragic, because the thirst for knowledge is there. About a year ago, I got a telephone call from a man who wanted back issues of a magazine I publish, Flair. I explained where he could collect them, but he said that he was a soldier who worked shifts and couldn’t. So I dropped them off on my way home. It turned out that he knew absolutely no English at all. So how do you read them, I asked? “I don’t”, he said. “I look at the pictures and then somebody explains to me what the article is about.” I wanted to cry. He was in his late 20s. The desire to know, the curiosity, were clear indicators of intelligence. But look what happened to him, because of some misguided political bee-in-the-bonnet about il-lingwa tal-hakem, which cripples both the government and opposition parties. He would have loved to learn English, but nobody taught him, and worse still, he was persuaded that it wasn’t important and found out too late that it is.]
I speak mostly Maltese and I’m perfectly able to read books, newspapers and follow documentaries in English. I do not feel limited.
[Daphne – Ah, but you belong to a generation where English was taught even to those who felt they didn’t need it. The situation is far different to those in their teens and 20s today, who can’t understand even the simplest sentence.]
Just because I do not wish to speak it in my own country, doesn’t mean I cannot understand or speak English. Maybe I’m not that fluent when it comes to speaking it, but I’ve never had any complaints from English-speaking friends or English nationals. Some of them even remarked that I’ve got good speaking English. And there are many other people like me, who speak Maltese and yet have good grasp of English.
[Daphne – I can’t understand why people have chips about this. The same people who have a chip about speaking English ‘in their own country’ disparage those who have the same attitude and refuse to speak Maltese for similar reasons. Speak both, for pity’s sake, and have done with it.]
“The language of instruction at the university is English. This is official, and that’s why the university is able to sell its courses to non-Maltese.”
So why do you require an O-level in Maltese?
[Daphne – Because the system has been f**ked up. People who are not Maltese, and Maltese people who have grown up outside Malta, do not need that O-level, which effectively means that it is not a requirement for reasons of teaching but for reasons of perverted national pride. I was at the university here for five years and I didn’t use Maltese once, nor did any of my lecturers. On the contrary, I remember once when a student insisted on asking a question in Maltese, she was pointedly told by the lecturer: please speak English; this is an English-speaking university.]
As far as I know, Malta has two official languages: Maltese and English. Thus, by definition, lectures at the university can be done in Maltese.
[Daphne – No, because it is always the most appropriate language that has to be used. Hence, the language of the courts is Maltese only. And the language of the university is English only.]
“The lecturers you mention do that not because their students are linguistically incompetent, but because THEY are.”
I assure you, they’re not. Most of the lecturers have doctorates from the Universities of Sheffield, Oxford and Cambridge. I’m sure they’re perfectly capable of understanding English. They just prefer to use Maltese when at home.
[Daphne – There is a world of difference between understanding English and speaking it as a first language or a fluent second language. The people you mention are certainly not truly bilingual: bilingual people think in the language they speak. This sort of person thinks in Maltese and translates into English, resulting in a time-lag between thought-formation and speech, which makes addressing a room full of people very difficult indeed.]
Dear NGT , I am fully aware of the importance of the English language. I am also aware of situations where the majority of the students in a class lose interest because they don’t understand what the teacher is talking about because of the language.
From my personal experience, one grasps a language through reading and speaking it in its country.
At present, we are asking our B Educ students to be competent in Maltese, English and the specialising subject they choose.
If a British teacher of physics applies for a job in a private school in Malta s/he stands a good chance of getting the job. Is the system being fair with the Maltese teachers who should learn a second language? Is it fair for the students who maybe are not good in the English language to sit for 45 minutes straining themselves to understand what the British teacher is talking about? Wouldn’t the students find it hard to stand up and ask for clarifications?
[Daphne – Please explain to me how in heaven’s name physics is taught in Maltese. I am genuinely curious.]
This also applies to doctors and other professionals who are in contact with the general public who normally speak Maltese and know some English.
Non-Maltese-speaking doctors sometimes need an interpreter to communicate with their clients who happen to be paying their salaries through taxes. A Maltese-speaking doctor doesn’t need interpreters (costs less).
Only a few days ago I was approached by a bank representative who spoke to me in English. I told her that I prefer to speak Maltese on such matters; she told me that she doesn’t know the language. Well, the new bank is probably losing potential new customers because of this silly attitude of its reps.
[Daphne – Why do you prefer to speak Maltese ‘on such matters’? You’re communicating in English here and appear to have no problem doing so. So why did you make that woman’s life difficult – for the hell of it?]
It’s good, no, excellent, to have a good command of more than one language, but it is also very important to communicate with the clients who pay for your services. Maltese students want their teachers to explain the course subjects in their mother tongue: Maltese.
[Daphne – No, John, only the ignorant and linguistically unskilled ones do so. Those who speak competent English would much rather be taught in English for the simple and important reason that it is the language of academia.]
John Schembri: You appear to value education and favour life-long learning, so why do you champion the restriction of access to knowledge? The ability to use English is pragmatic, not political.
@ John Schembri
Malta has two official languages, so am I being unreasonable or unfair to expect teachers to have a good grasp of both languages?
Is it also being unreasonable to expect someone to answer me in the language I address him or her in – be it English or Maltese? Sadly, many people are genuinely unable to do so. But it’s sadder to note that some people refuse to use one language or the other even though they are perfectly able to do so (and it’s usually the fervent Maltese speakers who have the massive chips on their shoulders when it comes to this language issue). Thankfully I’m fairly competent when it comes to using either language. You seem to be too – so your refusing to speak to a bank rep in English seems to have been a rather puerile or bloody minded thing to do. If I’m wrong in making these assumptions, my apologies.
As I pointed out before, the English or French can afford not to be bilingual – we can’t for many reasons which, I imagine, are obvious.
For crying out loud, Spanish is the second most widely spoken language and the Spanish government is doing its best to create incentives for Spanish to learn English – we on the other hand are so arrogant (or is it because we have such a strong national identity?) that we’re trying to sweep aside one of our major assets.
My preferred language is Maltese. If a bank representative does not speak the language which a potential customer prefers, well, than the bank has a problem. I feel more comfortable discussing money matters in my mother tongue.
I am in favour of the use of Maltese everywhere; it’s part of our identity. I am not against the use of English.
Cetta ta’ Lahlah doesn’t know a word in English. Is she supposed to learn English because it’s written in the Constitution that it’s an official language in Malta?
We are past masters in creating obstacles to our children not to continue their education: we want them to have all required subjects on ONE matriculation certificate.Their counterparts in Europe don’t have this huge drawback. We want them to speak fluent English (a second language) even though they will teach students in the mother tongue. Their European counterparts are required to know one language.
[Daphne – English is not an obstacle to education but the essential path to education. It isn’t essential for those whose mother tongue is a major language. Maltese is not a major language.]
Teaching Physics in Maltese doesn’t mean that the teacher has to find a word for latent heat capacity or for coefficient of linear expansion. What I mean is that the teacher EXPLAINS the subject in Maltese to his students who after all are Maltese.
[Daphne – Oh yes? And how does the teacher explain the meaning of ‘latent heat capacity’ to people who haven’t a clue what the individual components of that term mean? I’m just curious. ‘Heat’ and ‘capacity’ they just might manage, but imagine trying to explain a word like ‘latent’ to people who speak only a very basic and unsophisticated language which doesn’t even begin to embrace the concept, let alone have a word for it.]
It is a must that we should learn English, but let’s not tie our students’ hands while we demand that they race with others who are unshackled.
[Daphne – You tie students’ hands by failing to ensure that they become fluent in English. If they can manage Italian, they can manage English, surely. I’ve noticed that the many, many Maltese who can’t speak English are very much at home chuntering on in Italian.]
I’m not sure what the problem is with expecting university students to be fluent in English. Even in Sweden, where English isn’t, and never has been, an official language, you won’t get into university without fluency in English. In fact, many higher university programmes mix Swedish lecturers with foreign ones, making it virtually impossible to achieve a grade unless your English is at a top level. It’s not a matter of identity or preservation of a part of your culture; it’s a matter of reaching a level of education which is competitive on a modern market. I can assure you there is no indication Swedish would vanish as our mother tongue, but the requirement for every citizen to become fluent in English as well has become a reality (don’t get me wrong, we are not there yet, but the new generations are definitely getting there).
Latent is mohbija in this context.
[Daphne – Mohbija does not mean latent. It means hidden. If latent meant mohbija, then the term would be hidden heat capacity and not latent heat capacity. English is a very precise language, not hit-and-miss. And that’s where you go wrong in trying to use Maltese for academic subjects. Maltese is simplistic and unsophisticated. It hasn’t evolved to encompass discrete concepts or ideas, or even facts.]
You’re one of those who think that Maltese is a poor language.
[Daphne – I don’t think Maltese is a poor language. It is a poor language, though it isn’t politically correct or fashionable to say this. It is the language of a small group of peasants left isolated on a rock when everyone else fled or died. You would think that at least the terminology associated with agriculture would be highly evolved, but even that is basic. People living on the edge of starvation in a primitive culture cannot evolve a sophisticated language. I am not saying this to disparage anyone or anything, but it’s a fact. The more highly evolved a culture, the more highly evolved the language. The reverse holds true, too.]
A lecturer in communications once stated that we don’t make a difference between hearing and listening..I gave her the Maltese equivalent of the word, but still she kept using the English word.
[Daphne – You’ve just unwittingly illustrated my point: ‘we don’t make a difference’. In Maltese, ma naghmlux differenza is used for ‘we don’t differentiate (between)’ and ‘we don’t make a difference (to something)’. In English, you can’t use the same verb/phrase interchangeably for those two meanings. There is a specific verb which means what you intended to say: differentiate. The lecturer in communications was right: Maltese does not distinguish between hearing and listening. ‘Smajt hoss’; ‘Isma!’ In English, those would be ‘I heard a sound’ and ‘Listen!’ but in Maltese the same verb is used. This is one of the complexities of teaching English to Maltese children, who live in a culture that has not evolved different words for the completely different concepts of hearing and listening. How do you explain to a Maltese child what listening means, and that it is not the same thing as hearing?]
Some people think that the ONLY way to learn a subject is in English; I say that some Maltese helps a lot.
[Daphne – Exactly what does it help? With biology? With maths? With chemistry? With geography? Come on, John.]
Listen in Maltese is “aghti widen”.
Aghti widen ta’ li qed nghidlek : l-Ingliz ghandna bzonnu imma ahna Maltin ,u nifhmu iktar malajr jekk tfhemna bil-Malti.
Fil-kuntest latent hekk tfisser: mohbija , jew ahjar ma’ tidhirx..Nghidu hekk meta jinxtara xi bini “latent defects” “difetti mohbija”
M’hinix xi lingwista.F’erbgha kelmiet “Latent heat ” hija shana li ma tarahiex bit-termometru ,ghax tigri meta tissahhan, il-massa tibdel l-istat taghha , minn solidu ghal-likwidu u minn likwidu ghal gass.
Hija frustranti meta tkellem lil-haddiehor b’lsien barrani fejn tista’ tkellmu b’ilsien art twelidek.Fil-lezzjonijiet il-Malti flimkien ma’ l-ingliz jghinu lil-istudent.
M’hinix xi fanatiku li ghal kompjuter nghid mahseb.
Il-lejl it-tajjeb.
[Daphne – Aghti widen? Aghti widen? Oh, please. The context in which you’ve used it here is ‘take note of what I’m saying’ and not ‘listen’. Also ‘aghti widen’ is generally used to mean special instances in which one lends a patient ear to somebody with a plea to make or a need to unburden himself. It does not mean listening, as when in conversation with somebody.]
John, why clutch at straws? It might suit the moment to use Maltese when a child is absolutely unable to understand a concept but to extrapolate that into a blanket justification for a refusal to use English is not just absurd – it is a disservice to the children one is supposed to teach.
Maltese has no word for latent but then, neither did English, German, French and Spanish. They all had to borrow the word from Latin and we can do that too. In all major European languages I have checked, the phrase latent heat capacity is expressed in the same way: ‘latent’ and ‘capacity’ are taken from Latin while, in many cases ‘heat’ is derived from the local language.
Using Maltese to express scientific concepts seems difficult only if one looks for inspiration in our Arabic roots instead of the Romance ones. We should not be inhibited from borrowing heavily from Latin: scientific English seems almost like a modified Graeco-Latin dialect.
We do not have different words for ‘listen’ and ‘hear’ because, evidently, the Maltese never felt the need to distinguish between the two. I don’t think any language is inherently primitive; it’s the people who use it who may be primitive or sophisticated.
It is of course silly to insist on using predominantly Maltese in education. As a matter of fact, our familiarity with English from a young age is a cultural heritage that should be cherished and, in the past, gave us an edge over other European nations. We are losing this advantage and other countries are fast catching up.
I believe there should be a renewed campaign to improve usage by attracting British teachers and lecturers, not necessarily to teach English itself but any subject. This is the only way to reverse the spread of the low-brow pidgin language that has developed, even in schools. Perhaps we could have less music/art appreciation and more grammar in our schools, too.
We don’t make a difference – you proved that I’m not that good in English as it is spoke. My preferred language is Maltese.
[Daphne – I didn’t seek to prove anything of the sort, merely to point out that English is very much more evolved and sophisticated than Maltese, and this for no other reason than that it grew out of a much more highly evolved and sophisticated culture. Words evolve as and when people need them. Stuck on a barren rock desperate for survival, the Maltese needed very few words and very few words are all we still have, when you strike off the ones we have pulled in directly from English in the last few decades.]
“a few days ago I was approached by a bank representative who spoke to me in English….”
If she was the one from Sparkasse you have just committed the biggest faux pas of your entire life.
P.S. U John, ma nibdewx b’din tal-physics bil-Malti. Arani kif se ngibek dahrek mal-hajt: Tini l-kliem ghal ‘gas’ u ‘vapour’ bil-Malti. Leqq, mhux “fwar” u leqq, tghidlix li huma l-istess. Hah! Touché! Your move!
Read this quote, and BELIEVE, John, for it is the naked Comino truth: ” I don’t think Maltese is a poor language. It is a poor language, though it isn’t politically correct or fashionable to say this.”
I’m not John but am going to answer you anyway. Gas is gass in Maltese, as it is in Italian, French, German and English. I have no idea what it is in Arabic but wouldn’t be surprised if it’s gas too. Vapour is, as you have rightly guessed, fwar.
My turn to ask you a question now. What is faux pas in English?
[Daphne – A false move. The two originally meant exactly the same thing, but then ‘false move’ came to mean any mistaken move, while ‘faux pas’ came to be qualified by embarrassment caused to oneself, to another, or both. I know only very basic French, so I couldn’t tell you whether ‘faux pas’ is restricted to use in embarrassing situations in its original language, or whether it is used for any sort of false move, but I’m sure the French-speakers on this blog will put us right on this one.]
John – your preferred language is Maltese. Wouldn’t you really prefer to speak more than one fluently? And isn’t there a greater chance of every child being taught to do that if their teachers first learned to do so themselves and then passed on the habit and skill?
I think that everyone should put a stop and ask a linguistic expert. Just because, you have some penchant against Maltese or you find it difficult (because let’s face it, English is way easier since it has no grammatical rules whatsoever) to use, it doesn’t mean it is less good than other languages.
[Daphne – English doesn’t have any grammatical rules? The fact that English is irregular and very, very complicated does not mean it has no grammatical rules. Unbelievable. Maltese is way easier than English precisely because it is so regular – like Italian and French, and for all I know Spanish and Portuguese too. English is riddled with nuances that you can pick up only by complete immersion. You don’t even have to read Maltese to be able to spell it, because it was invented as a written language in one go, rather than evolving.]
For example I don’t like German or Russian, and I admit they are difficult to learn, but it doesn’t mean that they’re any less useful than other languages. Let’s face it, Maltese is simply not easy. Why? A harsh island breeds a hardy people and hence the people develop a hard language.
[Daphne – On the contrary, Maltese is a simple language precisely because of the deprivation you describe. It is the REVERSE of other languages. Rather than a sophisticated language which evolved from a rudimentary language, it is a rudimentary language which devolved from a far more sophisticated one, Arabic. The sooner we admit that Maltese is an unsatisfactory dialect, the better. I’m not saying we shouldn’t cherish it or whatever. I’m just saying we should be realistic. You remind me of those parents of ugly kids who look at them and think they’re amazing.]
However, I can assure you that you can express any ideas or concepts using any language in the world.
[Daphne – No, you can’t. Thought shapes language and language in turn shapes thought. Hence, a culture that fails to distinguish between hearing and listening doesn’t develop two different words for the two different meanings, and people growing up in that culture cannot grasp the difference between hearing and listening even when it is explained to them.]
And yes, fwar is vapour because fwar does not refer to the substance but to the form of the matter. And gas is gass in Maltese. Qieghed tara, gibtek dahrek mal-hajt jien issa.
[Daphne – Hardly. If vapour is fwar, then what is steam? Oh, don’t tell me. It’s fwar, too.]
Jekk trid kompli saqsini iktar kliem Sur Baxxter u nsiblek kliem adatatti bil-Malti. Il-faqar mhux qieghed fil-lingwa, izda fin-nies li jikkalpestawha jew fin-nies li juzawha b’mod hazin.
[Daphne – All you need to do is pick up a full English dictionary and a full Maltese dictionary and place them side by side. Then, once you’ve compared the width of the spine and the height of the book, look inside the Maltese dictionary and you’ll find that many of the Maltese words are actually futbol, televixin, kuxin, ticer, jott, xorz….]
“A harsh island breeds a hardy people and hence the people develop a hard language.”
X’ghandu x’jaqsam?
Daphne – “All you need to do is pick up a full English dictionary and a full Maltese dictionary and place them side by side.”
I don’t know of any language that could come out the winner in such a direct dictionary-to-dictionary contest with English.
There are several contributors here who are fluent in German, for example. I wonder how they think German would fare in such a comparison. My layman’s opinion is that no language – not even German – can compete with English for the sheer size of the vocabulary.
@ John “Just because, you have some penchant against Maltese or you find it difficult”
I think it’s the other way round – no one here said anything against Maltese or about its level of difficulty. If anything someone said that it’s unfair to use English in class if students find it difficult to understand the language (erm – so how about teaching it properly in primary schools?)
Another point raised was that English is an important language which should not be lost. Why does this fact rub you the wrong way so much? The argument was not about adopting English or Maltese as a first language but learning to use both with native-like fluency. It is possible – but as long as this grudge against English exists we’ll just remain a monolingual nation and keep kidding ourselves that we are bilingual people who only use English when absolutely necessary… which is absolute bollocks.
@Baxxter: how about ‘vejper’ then (the use of ‘frekxins’ has already been suggested – not kidding).
Antoine, my dear boy: I did not say that “vapour” is “fwar”, and I think there’s a case for libel here ;).
Fwar is steam. And steam isn’t even water vapour, let alone vapour. No, gas and vapour do not have the same meaning. So you’re wrong, and John is monumentally wrong. Damn it John, don’t you realise that if we had to stick to Maltese for science we’d still be rubbing sticks together to make fire?
Gibtni dahri mal-hajt? My arse. Jien minhiex qed “nikkalpesta” (sic) il-Malti billi nghid il-verità. Il-Malti fqir wisq biex jintuza f’kull qasam tal-hajja. L-istess bhall-hafna lingwi regjonali Ewropej. Gej bil-physics bil-Malti….kieku l-physics inkiteb bil-Malti, ghadna bid-dinja catta fuq dahar fekruna….
I didn’t say that gas and vapour have the same meaning so I think there’s a case for libel here. :)
What I did say was that vapour is fwar. Steam and vapour are essentially the same except that the words are used in different circumstances (find a good dictionary and look them up). Vapour under pressure, for example is usually known as steam hence also the metaphoric use of the word. Ever heard of a steaming cup of tea? That’s water vapour coming out of the hot tea but we say steaming because vaporous would bring to mind yet another idiom. They are all nuances of the same words suitable for different situations. Italian does not have separate words for steam and vapour: vapore is used in all cases but that doesn’t render the language less polished.
English has probably the largest vocabulary of any language because it has the vitality to absorb and adapt so many loan-words from all over the world. In science, practically all jargon is derived from Latin or Latinised Greek in all European languages and that was my point. It should be easier for us to borrow from Latin because of our proximity (another Latin word) to Italy and the influence of Italian in our language.
We definitely need English for general use and have to take it more seriously but in science we also need a sprinkling of Latin or at least Italian. A case in point is an EU biocides directive I was going through some days ago. It contained the term ‘germ cell’ and whoever translated it in Maltese had never heard of ‘cellula germinale’ so they looked up germ in a dictionary and came up with ‘ċellula ta’ mikrobu’. It is now an official EU directive (1272/2008/EC) that certain chemicals such as disinfectants should carry a warning that they may damage bacteria.
Isma’ jien inkoraggejt lit-tfal jitghalmu kollox u jhobbu kull lingwa. Alla jbierek nista’ nghid li jafu jhaddmu l-lingwi iktar minni. Li qed nghid hi xi haga hekk fil-klassi ” Ser ma’ nistax nifhem lejtent hijt”. Is-sir:” Ara dik hi shana li fil-graf taraha f’dik il-parti horizontali qabel ma’ beda jbaqbaq il-likwidu.”
Nittama li fihmtuni x’ nixtieq.
I remember there was a bit of a problem with the translation into Maltese of “penile dysfunction” for one of those medical information leaflets that are found inside cartons of pills. “Zob” was considered not clinical enough and too vulgar. I don’t remember how the problem was solved – nor what word was used for dysfunction. I wonder whether John could suggest something – two words – short and sweet as in English.
One thing I’ve long observed is that whenever there’s a notice in multiple languages, the English version is practically always the shortest. This suggests, to me, that the richness of the language allows one to say precisely what one intends, without having to resort to verbosity.
Now this is what I call service from English-speaking Australians.They write to you in your preferred language: Maltese. A relative of mine received The Australian Pension News in Maltese.
http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/languages/mt.htm
When will we ever learn?