Britspeak: incomprehensible to non-native speakers
No doubt as a tactic to show that look, Malta’s stance is not being frowned upon by the allies as Some People are saying, the office of the prime minister yesterday released to the media a letter which David Cameron wrote to Dr Gonzi.
Disingenuously, they failed to include the date.
“I am writing to thank you again for your help in the evacuation of UK nationals from Libya. As you are aware, this has been a challenging operation for us. I am immensely grateful for the way you, your officials and the Maltese people have given such generous support to our team on the ground in Malta. Once again Malta finds itself at the centre of world attention and, as in previous times, you have demonstrated your resilience and fortitude.
“I would also like to thank you for Malta’s support in securing EU sanctions on Iran. I am aware that the unfolding events in the Middle East and North Africa will have enormous implications for Malta. This underlined the importance of continuing to work together both bilaterally and through the EU, to shape a secure and prosperous future for all Mediterranean countries.
“Finally I am delighted that arrangements have been made for you to visit London on 10 May. My officials will be in contact to firm up the details.”
Mr Cameron is clearly speaking here about the evacuation exercise and nothing else. Also, the letter should have been put past a native speaker of British English, immediately it was received (to ensure that it was properly understood) and certainly before it was released.
British English is designed for conciseness and clarity, but non-native speakers sometimes make the accusation that native speakers employ codes which are not understood by others. They are not codes at all, but part of the way the language is used. Those who speak ‘Globish’, American English or English as a second or third language do not understand the implied or inherent meaning in much of what is said and written by native speakers of British English.
We had a glaring example of this when the British defence secretary and the Maltese prime minister spoke together to the press after Dr Gonzi made it clear that Malta will not allow itself ‘to be used as a military base’. Liam Fox’s immediate response to a subsequent press question about whether Britain ‘would help Malta’ in case of a refugee crisis, was:
“Britain’s position is to act to avoid having a refugee crisis in the first place.”
As a native speaker of British English, it was immediately obvious to me exactly what the defence secretary said there, so obvious that I wouldn’t even say that he ‘implied’ it.
I’d say the same about these two sentences in David Cameron’s letter to Lawrence Gonzi, which are the reason why I would have advised against releasing it to the press:
“I am aware that the unfolding events in the Middle East and North Africa will have enormous implications for Malta. This underlines the importance of continuing to work together both bilaterally and through the EU, to shape a secure and prosperous future for all Mediterranean countries.”
Loosely translated for non-native speakers, it means this:
“You’re one of those with most to gain and most to lose in this crisis. So we fully expect you to get off your arse and pull your weight along with the rest of us, instead of sitting back and then coming forward to reap the rewards of what we’ve done.”
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Message to OPM
Kindly indicate the date of the letter.
Probably the letter was dated before that meeting shown in the picture. By the looks of it, Cameron was sharing the hidden message with Obama.
It really doesn’t matter, Stacey. By releasing this, the PM has demonstrated that, he, also, didn’t ‘pick up’ the message. Therefore, he becomes one of Daphne’s non-native speakers. Sad.
The British have enough trouble with lack of cooperation from Cyprus. The last thing they need is Malta rolling over and playing dead:
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/world/qatar-fighter-jets-make-cyprus-emergency-landing-for-fuel
Following the request for refuelling, the Cypriot authorities must have thought “Oh God, here we go again. The Qatari pilots are defecting. Like those Libyan ones in Malta.”
How can a Maltese woman be a native speaker of English?
You cannot.
They (Politicians) use double speak which has little to do with British English, more to do with liars and vagabonds.
[Daphne – Simple, ‘Reuben Sachs’ aka Mario Farrugia and all the other names you use: I was brought up with two mother tongues, Maltese and (British) English, in a country where both are official languages and in a family where both are/were spoken idiomatically. I learned neither of those languages as a second language. I am a native speaker of both.]
I was starting to believe that Reuben Sachs was a native speaker of German.
You cannot be a native speaker, you are Maltese.Look up the word ‘Native’ in the dictionary.
You can be a plastic native speaker like you get plastic Englishmen or plastic Italians in Malta.Plastic Daphne.
[Daphne – ‘Reuben Sachs’, English is one of Malta’s official languages. Those who grow up speaking English as a mother tongue in Malta are native speakers of the language in the same way that Australians, Canadians, Americans, South Africans, Falklanders and the rest are.]
‘Reuben Sachs’, think of it in the same way someone born in America to Hispanic parents will invariably have both (American) English and (Mexican) Spanish as their native language. Or would they also count as these bizarre barbie doll nationalities you seem to speak of?
It’s evident that Daphne is a native speaker of BE simply from reading her writings. They could easily be extracted and published in The Telegraph, The Times or any other British publication without looking alien as they share the same tone — a tone that is not manifested in International English.
Reuben Sachs,
Your mother tongue is stupidity.
“English is one of Malta’s official languages’” that’s on paper. The spoken language between us Maltese people has always been Maltese.
[Daphne – Better educated people use both English and Maltese, John, as and when appropriate. Knowing only Maltese is nothing to boast about or to be proud of. Indeed, the inability to use English with ease is a great embarrassment when you are, say, a politician.]
A Native speaker is someone from The British Isles.You cannot be a Native speaker,sorry.
[Daphne – Clearly, you are not a native speaker of English yourself, for you would then know the difference between ‘native’ (adjective) and ‘native’ (noun). I am not a not a native of Britain (though I was born a British subject) but I am a native speaker of British English. By your mistaken definition, Australians, Canadians and Americans are not native English speakers either.]
Oh dear Reuben is obviously not a ‘native speaker’ of English. If he were he would have realised the difference between native (noun) and native (adj) as in native speaker. Incidentally the definition of which (seeing that we like playing the definitions game) is: “a speaker of a particular language who has spoken that language since earliest childhood; “native speakers of French” “.
Very droll.
Maybe he’s thinking of Roberto Francalanza’s natal colour-matching skills.
We in Malta SPEAK Maltese when we communicate between each other. That’s an undeniable fact.
[Daphne – Which Maltese, John? I’m 100% Maltese and I speak English most of the time. I speak English to my sons, my friends, my sisters, my husband and sometimes even my parents. Around 80% of my associates do the same. The trouble with people like you is that because you are in the majority you believe you can define what is Maltese, or suggest that people like me are somehow inauthentic. A few thousand Maltese feel equally at ease communicating in English, John, and we have the same passport as you do. Deal with it.]
Officialdom remains on paper.
Officially It-Tokk in Rabat, Gozo is Independence Square, Victoria, Gozo. Would any Gozitan tell you that he met someone at Independence Square in Victoria? Same applies to our language which is Maltese.
[Daphne – You’re talking about something else entirely there. That’s not because the name is English (in any case, it would be Misrah L-Independenza, not Independence Square, and they still wouldn’t call it that). It’s because new names take generations to fully replace old ones. To me, Prince of Wales Road in Sliema will remain Prince of Wales Road and not Manwel Dimech Street. It’s the same with Victoria Avenue (George Borg Olivier Street) in Sliema and Queen’s Square in Valletta. And no Gozitan speaks English (or Maltese, really) so you’ve picked the most obvious example. But when it comes to the urban middle-classes (the real ones) of the main island, you’ll find that the situation is different.]
We even have an official religion in our constitution but like all other written things on paper reality is different.
Reuben Sachs, try getting your little brain around this one now:
“Asked on BBC Breakfast how long the conflict was likely to last, Mr Harvey answered: ‘How long is a piece of string?”” http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1368633/Libya-war-US-chopper-shoots-6-villagers-welcomed-Air-Force-F-15-crash-pilots.html
One does not necessarily need to be anat ive speaker of British English to understand what is meant by “to work together both bilaterally and through the EU.” I am a Maltese native speaker and I immediately picked on that, when I was having a discussion with a couple of friends yesterday.
The Office of the Prime Minister evidently urgently needs not only a competent PR office – but it also needs someone thoroughly acquainted with the Queen’s English to understand and explain the nuances of the English language when handled by experts in diplomatic language.
If only. You should see the total MORONS responsible for communications in the various areas of government. Lawyers and engineers, the former more concerned with the difference betwen ‘direttiva’ and ‘ligi’ and the latter masters of blue-skies ‘inizjattivi’. There are a few old hands with an ounce of sense, but they’re few and far between.
And don’t get me started on the Queen’s English. Jason Azzopardi’s communications officer (he who writes press releases and speeches, a B.A. graduate who claims to be a “wordsmith”) doesn’t even know the meaning of “abnegation”.
Dr. Saliba, as you can see, Baxxter goes for the direct approach, not diplomatic language.
That’s because I know many of these people, and it pisses me off no end seeing them get away with crass stupidity when I get basted even when I do things perfectly.
“I would also like to thank you for Malta’s support in securing EU sanctions on Iran.”
Is “Iran” correct? Or should this statement have read “Libya”? Or are earlier sanctions on Iran what is being referred to?
I think the letter probably refers to EU sanctions against human rights violators in Iran, proposed by the Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union and announced on Monday March 21 – Hague issued a press release welcoming the `intention’ to impose these sanctions on Monday evening: http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/news/latest-news/?view=News&id=569851482
Well then, those of us who are non-native speakers have absolutely no chance of understanding what Cameron wants from us anyway. So we are handicapped in a most absolute way. And then, since we cannot really understand what the UK has in mind in its contacts with us, why should we bother taking part in action which we dont fully linguistically understand? Infact, I wonder what Sarkozy is doing in all this mess, a non-native-non-speaker of English. And apparently not even Barack Obama is qualified linguistically, as he speaks American English, which does not seem to make the grade.
[Daphne – You are in no position to have anything expected of you by the British prime minister (or any other political leader, for that matter). But should you ever find yourself in that position, then you would be expected to engage the services of advisers whose role it would be to ‘interpret’ any similar communication.]
With all due respect to all the above self-proclaimed champions and ‘native’ speakers of British English,
a. no, the Maltese are not native English speakers and are not regarded as such anywhere in Europe. Try to profess to be one in any European meeting and all the other speakers will be laughing their head off and asking you to pull the other leg.
b. anyone who has learnt the Queen’s English twenty/thirty years ago and who has had the opportunity to live in the UK for a number of years within the last decade would be very much aware that current British English is a far cry from the English we’ve learnt. Indeed, real native speakers would regard you as if you’ve dropped out of a time-machine after escaping from Shakesperean England. (That obviously belies the high cultural awareness of the average British citizen these days) Should you even try to justify your English in the haughty way I’ve seen above, you’ll just earn yourself yourself a big ‘Wha’ever!’.
c. In conclusion, it’s just political English – no British, no native, no wha’ever!
[Daphne – You fail to distinguish between people like the prime minister and people like me, Neville. The fact that there are fewer Maltese like me and more like the prime minister (and I mention him only as a public example) does not mean that people like me are any less Maltese than people like the prime minister. And yes, we are native speakers of English in precisely the same way that many South Africans are despite the fact that other South Africans are not. The trouble with people like you is that you just cannot accept this. Malta was a British colony for almost 200 years – and you say that Maltese people cannot be native speakers of English. Might I remind you that not only are we native speakers of English, but that those my age and older were also born British subjects. And another thing, don’t judge contemporary English by that spoken by Britain’s lower social orders, who appear to be the only sort you know.]
With all due respect. English is the ONLY official language of Nigeria. Are we saying here that Nigerians are native speakers of British English?
English is one of the official languages of Zimbabwe. Are we saying Zimbabweans are native speakers of British English?
We can go on like this with all the countries of the Commonwealth.
There might be Nigerian, ZImbabwean, Australian, American, Indian, Pakistani, whatever English – but none other than the people of Britain speak British English.
At best, in Malta there are those who are native speakers of Maltese English, the English of Malta… about which a book was written a couple of decades ago by a lady who teaches at the University of Molise.
For a laugh, watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWRExExe5ck
[Daphne – How wrong you are, and how illogical your arguments. The fact that most Maltese speak no English at all or what you call ‘Maltese English’ does not mean that no Maltese are native speakers of British English. I certainly am one and I know many more. Unfortunately, you seem to be one of those Maltese who learned ‘international English’ well and who assume that all Maltese who speak and write English fluently fall into the same category. We do not. It’s the reason my English is discernibly different to yours, though you might not be able to work out how and why it is different.]
I consciously and wittingly avoid idiomatic English because the language is not mine. (Sometimes idiomatic phrases slip inadvertently.)
You can gauge whether someone is a native speaker by their mastery of the idiomatic variant of the language. (See for a discussion on this point: “Idiomaticity as an indicator of second language proficiency” (pp. 55-73) in Bilingualism Across the Lifespan – Aspects of Acquisition, Maturity, and Loss ed. by K. Hyltenstam and L. Obler, Cambridge University Press, 1989.)
You are right I use international English, because English is for me the linguistic vehicle with which to reach the world beyond this minuscle island. (By the way, thank you for the compliment: “seem to be one of those Maltese who learned ‘international English’ well”.)
But, we do agree, I believe, that idiomatic (or British) English is not understood outside Britain.
SInce you were not born in Britain and have not spent your life in a British milieu, to my understanding you make an effort to use idiomatic (or British) English (which you have learnt well).
But you are just wearing a mask. Trying to imitate the colonial master is a well-research psychological phenomenon widespread among colonized peoples. You might wish to read Frantz Fanon’s “Black Skin, White Masks” on this subject.
To be a native speaker of both English and Maltese, one of your parents had to be English and the other one Maltese.
[Daphne – I make no effort at all to speak and write idiomatic British English. It is one of my mother tongues. To be a native speaker of both, I did not need to have one British parent and one Maltese parent. My sons have two Maltese parents and they speak and write idiomatic British English too. One of them worked as a speechwriter to a British diplomat, having been selected for the task because, in an office building with tens of British employees, his use of English was by far the most fluent. I was brought up in what you call “a British milieu” – in Malta. The “British milieu” my parents grew up in was even more British: a full-on, 100% British colony. Nobody in my family ever ‘imitated the coloniser’. They didn’t need to, because they were neither peasants nor social climbers. They were/are all resolutely Maltese, the difference being that none of us has a chip about English. You’re wrong about idiomatic British English not being understood outside Britain. If that were the case, I would have no readership at all in Malta. True, I also have to contend with an army of detractors who, because of the reason you describe, don’t fully understand the spirit in which I write. But I am certainly not going to employ a form of the language that is alien to me, just so that I can make myself understood by people in whom I have scant interest.]
Probably the idiots you are referring to – the ‘detractors’ – would not understand you even in idiomatic Maltese. Not because they do not know the language(s), but because they lack the necessary IQ.
Nevertheless, my suspicion is that in reality very few people really grasp the nuances of much of what you write.
Demonstrating that in Malta there is no British milieu.
—
Being in a British colony is not equivalent to being in Britain. Otherwise, you will have to concede my argument that all inhabitants of former British colonies where English is still an official language are native speakers of (British) English.
[Daphne – You cannot possibly understand the environment in which I and many other Maltese grew up unless you were also part of it. And if you were, you wouldn’t be questioning matters in this way. The fact remains that a tiny percentage of the population of Malta is made up of native English speakers, as distinct from other Maltese who speak no English at all, those who learned it at school, and others who speak and write it painfully as a second or third language. There are so few of us that we are not even represented in parliament, where there are no native speakers of English. But we exist, and I am evidence of it. I never studied the language and I don’t remember having a single grammar lesson.]
I know what you are talking about. Still, I do not think that that particular situation amounts to native speaking. If it were as you are saying, American English would have never emerged. People would have just kept on interacting in English (without the need of specifiying whether it’s British or what have you).
In the beginning, the English speakers who arrived in America spoke the language they had when they left. By time, a new English developed – American English, with (new) influences from German, Swedish and the other languages of the communities which arrived there and as a reaction to the new environment (natural, social, etc).
The same happened in Australia, etc. The enviornment somehow “contaminated” the language.
This is today happening with British English itself which – through the mass media, and mostly Hollywood movies – is being permeated / contaminated by Americanisms.
—-
Language is intimately related to identity. You are what you speak, and you speak what you are.
The psychological phenomenon you are describing, I repeat, is the same phenomenon Frantz Fanon wrote about, the (unconscious) wearing of masks.
No matter how much shoulder-rubbing, intermarriages, and shared common aims existed between the small minority of Maltese and the British in Malta, the point remains that there was one very thin line which was never trespassed. The Maltese were the colonized people, the British were the colonizers. This subtle difference – imperceptible to the unknowing observer – was, and still is, the unsaid, unconscious and unavoidable hurdle keeping non-British people from becoming native speakers of English.
It is only intergenerational integration in Britain which allows the descendants of non-native English speakers finally to become native speakers of English.
[Daphne – People who depend on the stuff they glean from a bit of academic reading here and there amaze me, because they ignore the obvious reality. Is my English distinguishable from that of a native speaker of British English? No, it is not. And that is precisely because I am one. Yours, on the other hand, is clearly that of somebody who grew up speaking mainly Maltese but who learned international English as a second language and more or less (and admirably so) perfected it, except for dead giveaways like ‘by time’ which tell me all I need to know.]
Sorry to disappoint. “By time” – which is manifestly wrong – is a typo due to the fact that I started out meaning to write a sentence opening “By the time” then changed my mind to a sentence which should have opened with “Over time” but forgot to replace “by” with “over”… When one is in a hurry, one does not proof-read.
There are many other mistakes in my contributions… which I have spotted upon re-reading… e.g. I forgot the “you” where I quote you and thank you for the compliment; I typed “well-research” instead of “well-researched”; that “slip” needed a “do” before and an “out” after; and possibly others which, neither being a proof-reader nor having the time, I cannot see right now.
So your reasoning is somewhat contorted… you rebuke me for not being a proof-reader! Hah! That’s some bad hat Harry!
Possibly even “proof-read” should be “proofread”…
Mr Calleja,
Believe it or not, there are many flavours of English, depending not only on geographic region, but also on social class.
I suspect that you, like many Maltese, have not ventured far beyond London (indeed, many seem to think that England is London) and that your only experience of the native English language comes from taxi drivers, shopkeepers and bartenders.
As regards your comment regarding “the high cultural awareness of the average British citizen these days”, I’m afraid this again only shows your deep ignorance of the British middle and upper classes. Over the years I have been deeply humbled by the casual ease with which the English enjoy culture, theirs and others. Many Maltese, on the other hand, tend to endure culture for the sole sake of rising above their peers.
Now, a native speaker is defined to be “a speaker of a particular language who has spoken that language since earliest childhood”. I am curious how Mr. Calleja can claim that “the Maltese are not native English speakers”, when clearly this depends on the Maltese in question.
Of course, being a native English speaker doesn’t say anything about one’s comprehension skills so this argument is quite pointless.
Sorry to disappoint. “By time” – which is manifestly wrong – is a typo due to the fact that I started out meaning to write a sentence opening “By the time” then changed my mind to a sentence which should have opened with “Over time” but forgot to replace “by” with “over”… When one is in a hurry, one does not proof-read.
There are many other mistakes in my contributions… which I have spotted upon re-reading… e.g. I forgot the “you” where I quote you and thank you for the compliment; I typed “well-research” instead of “well-researched”; that “slip” needed a “do” before and an “out” after; and possibly others which, neither being a proof-reader nor having the time, I cannot see right now.
So your reasoning is somewhat contorted… you rebuke me for not being a proof-reader! Hah! That’s some bad hat Harry!
One of the greatest novelists in English, Joseph Conrad, wasn’t born English.
Reuben Sachs is obviously Welsh.
And he wrote The Nigger of the Narcissus, a study in mask-wearing – the same phenomenon Fanon, a psychoanalyst among other things, describes.
(I am referring to Conrad, not Sachs who is probably Jewish (Ashkenazic).)
[Daphne – Reuben Sachs is a Maltese peasant who uses a variety of names.]
“One of the greatest novelists in English, Joseph Conrad, wasn’t born English. ”
And it shows. He writes as I would.
All Nigerians are Native speakers of English.I love that one.
Go tell the English.
[Daphne – ‘Reuben Sachs’, the fact that you did not have the good fortune to grow up as a native speaker of English does not mean to have to be bitter about it instead of working on improving your language skills. Nor does it mean you have to sublimate your envy into malice expressed towards those who were more fortunate than you.]
Daphne I am much older than you. I was brought up in the UK and returned to Malta in my teens.
We, and all my cousins and friends, lived a few roads away from where your parents live and all were considered native English speakers. But my English was very different to that spoken by others in my age group. Certain expressions I used were never used by them. (This was before the advent of British TV programmes).
[Daphne – I don’t suffer from that setback, not least because my parents spoke contemporary British English and flooded the house in which I was raised with (British) comics, magazines, journals and newspapers of all sorts. While in other households, parents dismissed that kind of thing as a waste of money ‘from which you’ll learn bad English’, in our household the opposite was held to be true. I still think that way to this day: good magazines and newspapers are the best source for contemporary use of language, and my house is full of them. One of the reasons why the English spoken by Maltese people is so old-fashioned is, I think, the fact that people consider these things to be a waste of money or ‘rubbish’.]
We seem to have moved on from comments on Cameron’s letter to whether we qualify as Native English Speakers.
The letter in question was dated 18th March.
I can’t understand why some people are so indignant that Daphne describes herself as a native speaker of English.
“We might set up some tentative criteria for “prototypical native speaker of language L” as follows:-
1. He/she was born in a country C where L is the dominant language;
2. He/she acquired L as a child (preferably in C);
3. The inhabitants of C are regarded as speaking the standard form of L;
4. He/she has both grammatical, lexical, phonological and sociolinguistic competence in the standard spoken form ofL;
5. He/she mainly speaks L at home;
6. He/she is not bilingual, or, if bilingual, does not regularly code-switch between the standard form of L and a dialect of L, or between L and another language.”
“In bilingual or “diglossic” communities, the question of “mother-tongue” arises . . . . . . In these contexts, “mother tongue” is used as a convenient reference for determining who is a native speaker of a particular language or dialect; it is usually taken to be the language a speaker heard as a child, normally uses at home, or both.”
Robin Turner in http://neptune.spaceports.com/~words/native.html
“A first language (also native language, mother tongue, arterial language, or L1) is the language(s) a person has learned from birth or within the critical period, or that a person speaks the best and so is often the basis for sociolinguistic identity.”
Bloomfield, Leonard. Language quoted in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_speaker#cite_note-0
It took me some 15 minutes to find the above information online; a longer search to include, e.g. Chomsky, would have yielded even better results. I don’t know why people do not make more use of the amazing access to information that Internet offers.
In short, a Maltese native speaker of English is someone who has learnt the language on their mother’s knee, so to speak.
At best, those Maltese whose first language is English (and of course there are quite a number, no problem about that), speak Maltese English, unless they spend their time between Britain and Malta.
[Daphne – I don’t speak Maltese English, Albert, unless I am dumbing-down deliberately in conversation to avoid being thought snotty. One of the defining factors of Maltese English is not, actually, the misuse of words or the strange sentence construction or even the loss of the interrogative form. It is the severely limited vocabulary. The accent is irrelevant. Native speakers of English who are Maltese have a distinct accent in the same way that, say, native speakers of English who are Canadian or Australian do. It’s just that there are only, I would say, a couple of thousand of us at most.]
Just like there is American English, Australian English New Zealand English, S. African English, there is also Maltese English. The message in which Cameron’s latest message is written in is neither British, or American, or any other type of language. It is diplomatic language, which is the mother tongue of no-one. It is learnt, little by little, in insititutions of learning.
[Daphne – Cameron’s message is written in simple English for a recipient who is not a native English speaker. However, it was apparently not simple enough. There is no such thing as ‘Maltese English’, Albert. The various forms of English which you mention are all governed by more or less the same strict rules of grammar and construction. They vary mainly through shifts in the meanings of nouns and, in American English (but not Canadian English) spelling. Malta cannot claim to have created its own form of English by misuse of words and catastrophic grammatical errors. The ‘English’ many Maltese use is comprehensible to other English-speakers. It has degenerated into a sort of patois. It is a patois I understand, one I can mimic and even use when necessary, but I would never use it to communicate with somebody who is not Maltese. ]
In any case, even Queen’s English or whatever you like to call it, is not a native language for anyone. It is a highly polished version of the spoken language of the people, used almost exclusively in writing or on formal occasions. This can be mastered by anyone who has been brought up speaking English, provided the right course of study is followed and in the right circles.
[Daphne – You are completely wrong. The Queen’s English is spoken by all members of the English (and Scottish, and Irish) upper-middle and upper classes, and it is learned from birth, not ‘mastered’. The younger generations tone it down so as to be able to fit in at university and work, but revert to it when among their own, and speak it exclusively as they grow older and are no longer subject to the various peer pressures of youth. The accent and intonation have changed a great deal over the years – you only have to listen to BBC news broadcasts from the 1960s to see what I mean – but all else remains more or less unchanged.]
Why we get into these arguments about ‘native languages’ and who is or is not able to read between the lines, is plain ludicrous.
Let me say that in my younger years (quite a while back) I was taught by three English teachers at the Hamrun Lyceum and I name them; Mr. Parker, Mr. Wood and Mr. Molloy. These teachers were as English as the Queen and they took no nonsense when it came to pronunciation and grammar. Yet, by Daphne’s reasoning, because at home I spoke more Maltese than English, I am not considered to be able to discern subtle hints ‘between the lines’.
Furthermore I have spent two thirds of my years in an English speaking country, my children were born in the same country and since they are not exactly fluent in Maltese, I rather speak to them in English.
This does not mean that when I write here, usually in a hurry, I do not take unnecessary licence or make spelling and grammatical errors. Do these occasional lapses disqualify me from being described as a ‘native language’ speaker/writer?
Daphne seems to forget that any quote by any politician is subject to interpretation and reading between the lines, is highly subjective.
Many times what a politician says is probably what he/she means but almost as often we refuse to take their words at face value. Cynicism quite often kills the joy in everyday life.
“Many times what a politician says is probably what he/she means but almost as often we refuse to take their words at face value.” This was certainly true with a certain Herr Hitler, possibly a role model for the Brotherly Leader of the Revolution.
Not taking politicians’ words at face value gives licence to the same politicians to engage their mouth before consulting their brains because no matter how upright they happen to be, cynics will not believe them.
Cynics are usually happy-go-lucky people who couldn’t care less as long as they are fully provided for, are enjoying the good things in life, but suddenly, if a shred of adversity comes along the way, they immediately blame the system, government, church, press and anyone else under the sun.
Herr Hitler is a bad example because he actually meant what he publicly said about his ambition to rule the world and he came darned close to doing it too. Ironically it was Malta, the little rock which started his demise by helping, in no uncertain way the Allies’ defeat of Rommel in the North African campaign.