Ingliz tal-biki u kitba tad-disperazzjoni
Literal translation from Maltese to English does not even begin to describe the problems with this piece of ‘reportage’. English aside, what is it exactly?
A report on Malta’s use of EU funds, or a report on what Chris Said decided to say?
What’s the news here – that Malta has used up its entire EU funds allocation or that Chris Said said so?
I just want to hit my head against the wall repeatedly.
timesofmalta.com – 16:04CET
Malta spends all EU funds it is allocated
Malta has spent all the EU funds it had been allocated, even surpassing the amount allocated under the programme Equal, according to two reports, Parliamentary Secretary Chris Said said.
Speaking during a visit to the Salini National Park, Dr Said said that the report showed that not only Malta did not lose any funds and used the maximum amount of funds at their disposal, it utilised €1.3 million more than originally allocated under the European Regional Development Fund.
Moreover, under the four Equal projects, 459 people were trained instead of the 100 originally planned, jobs were found for 130 people instead of 45 and nine small businesses were launched instead of five.
Dr Said said this was an excellent certificate for Malta because it was an example to other countries which sometimes lost the funds allocated to them by the EU.
This result was also a guarantee of the future because Malta was implementing the same strategies and systems for the 2007-2013 period.
He said that in the first 10 years of EU membership, Malta would have acquired €1.3 billion.
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Yes I know, and if you correct anything in the comments section they will not post it but rather correct it quietly hoping nobody else will notice.
They have really lowered their standards!
I agree! Not long ago there was an article where Dolores Cristina was referred to as ‘Minister for Culture’. I couldn’t believe it! I asked my colleagues if what I was reading was true, or if maybe there was a reshuffle without me knowing, because I just couldn’t believe that The Times would make such a mistake.
I checked online, just to make sure, and left a comment. They changed it without publishing the comment.
“Ingliż”. “Ingliz” is considered a spelling mistake.
“Disprament” not “disperazzjoni” – no such word.
[Daphne – I don’t use Maltese fonts, and as you must have realised by now, they are wholly unnecessary and pointless, because people read by word recognition. And that’s why you don’t look at Ingliz and pronounce it with a ‘ts’ at the end. As for disperazzjoni, not only is it a word, but it is THE word for despair. And quite the contrary to what you think, Aquilina cites ‘disprament’ in passing, in small letters, and then only to refer you back to ‘disperazzjoni’. The trouble with prejudiced people like you is that you assume people like me know no Maltese, when we are likely to know it better than the working classes – in the same way and for the exact same reasons that the British working classes are not the authority on written or spoken English.]
BBUUUURRRRNNNNN … I can’t believe he didn’t bother to check the dictionary before posting this comment.
He is right about the ż though.
[Daphne – I know he’s right about the z, but I repeat: I do not use Maltese fonts and it has nothing to do with my ability to spell, which is near perfect even if I do say so myself. I just don’t use Maltese fonts, end of story.]
Reminds me of TVM news, back then when I used to watch it, when the beginning of every other sentence was “Il-Ministru qal…”
That was when the previous sentence would have ended with “…qal il-Ministru.”
I read this three times and still do not “comprend” the meaning, message or statement intended? Total numpty……Do we get a certificate too? “excellent certificate for Malta”
“Malta would have acquired €1.3 billion”
Tal-ghageb! They’re clearly unaware of the billion we contribute, not to mention that the initial carrot funds are past history and pretty soon we’d be breaking even, before ultimately becoming net contibutors (due to a lowering of the EU average and not because our GDP would have fared any better).
I’m not sure the EU average will decrease. Most of the post-2004 members are doing spectacularly well. We, quite predictably, are lagging behind. But you can’t expect anything else from a country that is all bullshit and no substance.
“Spectacularly well”? You must be reading too much mainstream stuff – they’re all drowning in debt and spiraling downward. But what of the EU average after the next enlargement wave, when Serbia, Croatia, Macedonia, Ukraine and the rest join?
H.P., the post-2004 members may be doing well – it is the ones pre-2004 that are not doing very well. I mean, the PIIGS. And you can add Britain to that.
KEV – doing well in Brussels?
Biting the hand that feeds him. What’s that saying?—something like ‘porkers in the trough’?
Relax! In three years time you can help your mentors pull us out of the EU. But hold on, wouldn’t that loose you your carrot – well maybe not as probably you will be leading the Malta exit strategy mob (oops sorry I meant committee)!
Anyways you might want to substantiate your claims, granted that we commoners understand that you are limited by true Mintoffian/ Socialist logic by which relationships are only measured in opportunistic and pecuniary terms!
And how about this?
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/malta/malta-fails-to-spend-%E2%80%98more-than-half%E2%80%99-egf-funds
[Daphne – Oh please don’t tell me you read KullHadd in English for a balanced view of the news. Malta Today is the reason the Labour Party no longer feels the pressing need to start up its own English-language newspaper, which is a great shame because Maltastar is SO entertaining. Try this: http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100909/local/eu-funds-for-laid-off-workers-unspent ]
No, I read KulĦadd and listen to One Radio to get the LP’s side just as I listen to NET and read In-Nazzjon to get the PN’s side.
The pity is that the station which is supposed to give me a balanced view has been so tightly packed with PN apparatchiks that it is now infinetly more partisan than it ever was in the bad old “run rabbit run” days.
[Daphne – More fool you for still getting your news off the television in this day and age. Only old people do that – old people and the sub-literate.]
Kev…How is life on the moon?
“Maria Farrugia was on the phone with her husband, Nenu, when he suddenly cut…”
Qata l-linja.
P.S.: http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100908/local/i-think-he-felt-something-victim-s-wife
I’ve ceased to be amazed at the lack of simple English in these parts .. and that’s why I sometimes blog about the inanity. It’s almost a pity I’m not in Malta more often, actually …
“not only Malta did not lose any funds”
Epic!
daph, referenza ghal kummentarju tieghek rigward min huma l importaturi tal materjal tan nar, inti ghedt illi joseph muscat jixxerja l istes dar mal genituri tieghu? allura dawn ihallsu kont wiehed tad dawl u l ilma?
u wkoll irrispondi lil attard fejn saqsa min hi maria lourdes muscat l toqghod f`dak l indirizz ta st andrew street lija?. nisperaw li f`dak il post ma hemmx xi materjal perikoluz?
Min jithajjar?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgzOJqK2cuE&feature=player_embedded
He’s obviously targeting the Central European and Slavic recruitment pool. Do you have what it takes? Do you?
Who the f**k does he think he is? For the love of God, don’t attach such useless and worthless links – totally disgusting.
It gets even worse! Have a look at this ‘fresh’ quote from timesofmalta.com:
“Maria Farrugia was on the phone with her husband, Nenu, when he suddenly cut”
Source: http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100908/local/i-think-he-felt-something-victim-s-wife
ga qaluha… ;-)
Another example of bad English – “cut” instead of “hung up” (the phone):
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100908/local/i-think-he-felt-something-victim-s-wife
[Daphne – He cut the line, using a pair of scissors, no doubt.]
The article should at least have explained the meaning of the Equal and ERDF programs.
Timesofmalta.com
“Fontana sets up fund for fireworks victims – Xaghra feast held”
I don’t think any amount of money will help the victims of the explosion!
Listing to that crap “song” in your previous post, and to an illogical justification by a fireworks hobbyist on TVM who argued that even driving a car is lethally dangerous, I am more convinced of a theory which explains our difficulty in expressing ourselves in correct English.
The theory centres on studies of the logical left and imaginative right brain thinking and the scientific nature of languages and hence the people that speak them.
English is the quintessential of logical whilst the melodically creative Romance languages (with which our own Maltese language and thought process is heavily imbued) represents the direct opposite. Given that language is nothing but the audible expression of thought we Maltese are in a constant state of mental stress when we try to express ourselves in English whilst thinking in Maltese.
For a typical Maltese to try and think in English is as unnatural and improbable as snow to the desert unless one is predominantly exposed to the English tradition.
This obviously does not justify using a language incorrectly (at least without declaring own limitations).
Didn’t we lose the 12 or 20 million for the St.John’s Cathedral undergound museum thanks to Astrid and her magaphone?
Or am I missing something here?