The trashification goes on: Labour show-host turned ambassador to Belgium takes his kazin tal-banda standards to Brussels
Look at the tone and content of this communication, emailed out from the Maltese embassy in Brussels to Maltese people who live there. Ray Azzopardi, Labour Party TV show host and mass meeting master of ceremonies, is now the ambassador there.
A kazin tal-banda tone, and a kazin tal-banda outlook – and the assumption that all Maltese are the sort who go to kazini tal-banda and want to start off a party with mass after which they sit on chairs ranged around the perimeter of a room, grasping at waiters who go by and getting excited about ‘naqa ikel Malti u inbid’.
Why is mass celebrated on Republic Day? It’s not a holy feast.
Why ‘ikel Malti’ instead of proper party food?
Why this ‘ejjew hbieb’ tone in an embassy communication?
It’s going to be tombla and coffee mornings next.
I’m surprised they weren’t told that ‘transport huwa provdut minn prajvits’.
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You have to admit though that whoever penned that missive must be pretty good with the ”Avvizi tal -parrocca ” from the kappillan.
He might be good at writing l-avvizi but he has no clue how to use the article in Maltese.
Confessions at Dar Malta? It sounds like a 1970s smutty comedy.
Kindly RSVP is ALL WRONG. Do they really not know what RSVP means?
No. And just you wait till Silvio Parnis gets an ambassadorship. Then free pairs of earrings and socks will be presented to all attendees.
They use ‘Please SVP’ as a sign of enhanced politeness.
Another BIG MISTAKE.
They not only do not speak French, the number of errors in both languages makes one think that they do not write/speak Maltese and English well either.
Is Rv commonly used for Reverend for example? One would be excused for expecting to see Rev if an abbreviation is necessary. Thank goodness they did not write RV which would have made everyone think of a recreational vehicle.
And why would one write ‘ta’ xaghar’? The wrong h was used for ‘ha’ in the first paragraph. Why is there an extra space after the hyphen and before ‘quddiesa’?
In the second paragraph doesn’t one need to drop the ‘i’ from the article when the previous word, in this case ‘wara’ ends with a vowel? When in the middle of a sentence the article for E.T. does not need to be upper case surely? Is ‘il’ the correct article for ‘zmien’? And on and on such as ‘celebrate together Christmas’ rather than the appropriate ‘celebrate Christmas together’.
Anyway one gets my drift and I do not hesitate to state that MY knowledge of Maltese grammar leaves much to be desired. Of course the use of ‘daqxejn ikel…’ is an ailment which no amount of grammar knowledge can cure. But then as a great mind was quoted to have said ‘qualifications are irrelevant’.
Me thinks that the most to the point term in this whole communication is the abbreviation ET, pity he did not get to STAY home!
How I hate that word ‘festin’.
I remember when ages ago I was young, I used to go to a “festin” at the local Azzjoni Kattolika and the fare consisted of biskuttini and very sweet vermouth.
God truly help us. These guys can’t even communicate properly in their own mother tongue, let alone speak and write English and/or French.
I’m not surprised at all that these idiots don’t even know the difference between ‘hair’ and ‘month’.
Our diplomatic missions have truly become diplomatic corpses.
Very embarrassing for people having to address a bloody Labour mass meeting compère and Mintoff funeral organiser as Your Excellency.
My one question is – have we hit rock bottom yet?
Give them time. Still some way down to go.
We’ve hit rock bottom, but we’re still digging
Ambassade de Malte = Titottla tal-Maltin f’Brusill.
Ma tghaddix gurnata wahda li x’ imbecilli Laburist ma jwaqqghax pajjizu ghan-nejk.
Give us a break.
Il-qrar jaqa’ taht il-Vienna Convention?
No, it’s in the Bill of Human Rights.
I wouldn’t want my confession to be published by Wikileaks. There’s some explosive material in there.
occassion
”Festin” is reminisecent of a small disposable white plastic plate with a pastizz , sangwicc and blek forist gatow characteristic of Bingo at the parish hall.
And another ‘pastizz’ holding the white plastic plate.
Xagħar is hair. They meant xahar. Quddiesa tax-xagħar is literally a hairy Mass.
The English version is written badly but the Maltese one is even worse, full of spelling mistakes.
Yes, I think pidgin English is actually our most effective form of communication. The Maltese was vera tal-misthija (now you’ll say: ‘cross that h you hypocrite’)
Even “l’ohra” is spelt wrongly. It should read “l-ohra” (with a crossed “h” which I do not have here on this laptop.
Quddiesa tax-xaghar? Mela ma tahiex lis-Sur Laiviera biex jikkoregihielu qabel ippubblikaha? Almenu ma kienx johrog daqshekk ta’ stupidu u cuc.
Stop being negative. Last week it was a ‘kit’ (whatever that means) tal-presepji. Habrieki l-ambaxxatur.
“and to celebrate together Christmas prior to the holidays” just imagine the expressions on the faces of Maltese translators while reading this letter. It will get even worse while they imagine themselves being greeted by Ray Azzopardi.
Full of spelling and grammatical mistakes…as usual.
Miktuba mic-cwiec ghac-cwiec. Period.
Problem is they do not know any better.
‘Dan ix-xaghar’ as in ‘ix-xaghar ta’ l-MEP prospettiv fi Brussel, Alfred Sant’?
U peress li se ssir maratona ta’ gbir ta’ fondi ghal-Lejber fit-13 ta’ Dicembru, behsiebhom idawru s-sassla f’Dar Malta ukoll?
Malta at the moment is under a severe attack of humiliation by the Labour Government.
So true.
The Maltese version would have made the Kunsill tal-Malti very cross indeed.
Who is Rv Vella?
Is he the prete con la mogliettina?
That one’s in Gozo because he’s Malta’s rep to Unesco.
The least we expect from the Maltese Embassy is that if they are going to write in Maltese, they should spell it correctly, “Xaghar” is “hair”. “Xahar” is “month”.
What a complete waste of tax payer money.
Xaghar?
MASSIVE.
U mhux xorta?
L-aqwa li baghtuh Brassills.
Xagħar is misspelled. That means hair. They one they wanted was xahar.
We have truly hit the bottom…I never thought I’d see the day when we’d refer to Ray Azzopardi as His Excellency. It seemed like a joke all along but, now that it’s real, I cringe just reading the article.
Can you imagine H.E. in a room with Edward Sciclua, explaining the passports project.
While all this is going on we have to remember that Joseph Muscat had to reward Ray for his lifetime achievement in the Labour Party.
One should dig out His Excellency’s radio and tv station’s broadcasts about Dar Malta when the Gonzi government bought Dar Malta.
The Maltese version is not even the same as the English version. The translation of “a small reception at Dar Malta” has been missed out.
I guess because that would translate to “naqa ta’ party”. God, how crass. Small against what? A grand party? And “Maltese food and wine will be offered”? As in, offered on sale? How embarrassing.
Innutajt li jikteb “ħa jkun kif imiss” jew “ħa tkun il-Ġimgħa”. Għalkemm tista’ tikteb kif trid pero aktar tmur “ser ikun kif imiss” jew ” ser tkun il-Ġimgħa”. Tajjeb jifhem ukoll li “xagħar” huwa dak li jikber fir-ras jew f’partijiet oħra tal-ġisem filwaqt li “Xahar” meta nirreferu għal, p.e. Jannar, Frar eċċ eċċ.
Note that ‘xaghar’ in circular means hair and not month (xahar) as it is supposed to mean. So much for a Maltese Embassy sending invitations in Maltese. “Excuse Mr. President, it’s not on”. No Maltese translator…. no coommunication.
Really and truly a bunch of amateurs are running the show. I can’t for the life of me understand how a Maltese ambassador can stoop so low as to issue a communication infested with spelling mistakes.
A 10-year-old would have done a better job. Goes to show we’ve been invaded by illiterates occupying top posts.
I expect the Embassy of Malta to at least know the difference between “xahar” and “xaghar”. How stupid and embarrassing.
U ‘xahar’ (month) miktuba ħażin: xagħar.
X’mistħija.
Ara sewwa dak li qal il-Profs. m’hawnx nies ta’ kalibru – fil-Labour Party.
Q.E.D.
Even though I agree with your trashification theory, this obsession with mass and Malta has been there even during the PN’s tenure. It’s something that transcends party lines, and had irked many colleagues in Brussels and Luxembourg, especially in the case of the regular and continuous exhortations to mass and confession.
It would be unheard of in multicultural societies to open, for example, the forensic year with mass or have a priest bless new offices. Yet the assumption in the mind of the average small-minded Maltese person is that everyone is Catholic and the involvement of religion is mandatory.
it is nothing but a form of religious intolerance and imposition of personal beliefs on a society perceived to be fashioned in one’s image. Sadly for all the good past PN leaders did, they encouraged the imposition of these religious beliefs on Maltese society.
The results of the divorce referendum, spelt out the reality that society is increasingly less interested in religion. Malta is becoming multicultural and morning prayers and crucifixes hung in classrooms should belong to the past.
Schools are no place to isolate children of other religions. If parents wish to give their children a religious education, they should send them to a church school. State schools should be religiously neutral.
And then I’m perplexed at how many people on Facebook can’t write grammatically.
At least they didn’t split the difference and write “xar” instead; you know, biex inkunu sejf.
Jien ma’ nistax nifhem kif certu nies ghandhom il-kuragg jaccetaw certi karigi meta m’ghandhom esperienza u kwalifiki ta’ xejn. Pero’ din hija wkoll responsabbilta’ ta’ Joseph Muscat ghax hu appuntom u allura Joseph Muscat huwa il-persuna responsabbli li qed jirredikola lil Malta ma’ kull pajjiz barrani specjalment mal-pajjizi tal-EU.
Meta l-barranin jaraw nies ta’ din il-kwalita’ medjokri f’dawn il-karigi hekk importanti, jghidu mhux ta’ b’xejn Malta iridu ibighu ic-cittadinanza sabiex jattiraw nies ta’ talent u b’certu kwalifiki ghax in-nies Maltin huma tant foqra fil-mentalita’ u fl’edukazzjoni li anqas ghandhom nies ta’ kalibru ghal certi posizzjonijiet. Dawn huma kollha sinjali nagattivi li qed jintbaghtu lill-pajjizi barranin b’dawn in-nies f’dawn il-karigi. Il-Labour bil-mentalia’ medjokri li ghandu dejjem haseb li posizzjoni ta’ Ambaxxatur hija xi xalata u allura jista’ japponta kwalunkwe bniedem, Pero’ din il-kariga hija serja u ferm importanti ghall-pajjiz u allura ikun ta’ hsara kbira li tapponta nies biex taghmel pjacir u mhux biex tibaght messagg posittiv lill-pajjizi barranin.
When Eddie Fenech Adami became president, the media started calling him Edward, and the Labour elves were all the time poking fun at this, even if during an interview Eddie himself had said that he was and still is Eddie.
But now, we have H.E. Raymond Azzopardi, when he was never addressed as Raymond before and everybody knows him as Ray Azzopardi.
Another thing that the elves do to try to demean Nationalists, is that they call them by their Maltese name: so they address Lawrence Gonzi as Wenzu, Simon Busuttil as Xmun (or SImone – how progressive and liberal!) etc.
In their sorry matter which passes off as brain, calling someone by the Maltese version of his name is insulting.
It appears that Joseph`s hair transplant is playing a part in this event.
Why is the Ambassade De Malte referring to “xaghar”?
Maybe not – but, at any rate, certainly a friend of a friend. Or of another friend, maybe.
The person who forwarded these e-mails to you failed to tell you that similar activites were organised in the past. Father Alfred Vella, from the Emigrants Commission, regularly visits the Maltese communties in Brussels and Luxembourg. Activties which may include Maltese food are also organised by the embassy or the Maltese community itself on some national days for the Maltese community in these places.
You may not like Masses, Maltese food and band clubs. However Maltese traditions and customs should be respected by all Maltese.
The e-mail certainly could have been better written but even some teachers of Maltese do not know how to write correct Maltese. For example one should write Rev. and not Rv.
They omitted the Premju Stilla: facial b’xejn gentilment moghti minn Phyllis Muscat.
Will they organise a raffle at the end? Maybe selling a statue of Mrs. Muscat?
In the “English” version, the word ‘last’ is used three times in one sentence.
That said, I see nothing wrong with a bit of a shindig on Republic Day.
No. But why be so humdrum and tacky about it?
Remember the outrage when the Nationalist government bought Dar Malta in Brussels? Now they’re using it for Mass, pastizzi and bigilla nights, downgrading everywhere they go.
Xaghar means hair. Month is written xahar. Better try to learn how to write properly in Maltese. Where are the interpreters?
The Maltese version sports at least 17 errors of orthography, puctuation and grammar, and that’s without counting repetitions. All in a handful of sentences. Well done.
“il-quddiesa tax-xaghar li ghadda”?
xaghar = hair
xahar = month
Rv = recreational vehicle not Rev. Vella, but I don’t know him so he may very well be.
The Maltese version sports at least 17 errors of orthography, punctuation and grammar, and that’s without counting repetitions. All in a handful of sentences. Well done.
Veru waqajtuna ghan-nejk. Isthu jekk tafu.
Has spell-check been disabled since the 9th of March?
Usually when people hit rock bottom they bounce up; these hit rock bottom then they start digging deeper.
L-EĊĊELLENZA TIEGĦU Ray Azzopardi. Mur obsor, eh.
Ma setax kien iktar adattat dak il-coverline tal-Economist:
SEND IN THE CLOWNS
Lingwa Maltija mbiċċra. Żbalji oxxeni ta’ grammatika u ortografija tal-Malti.
Min kiteb dan l-avviż jew stedina lanqas jistħi ma jaf.
F’madwar mitt kelma, dan l-għaref irnexxielu jagħmel aktar minn 15-il żball.
Aħseb u ara d-diplomazija tagħhom dawn in-nies.
Doesn’t the Ambassador have his parish announcements checked?
Qrar, quddiesa, dips, Jack Coke u n**ka tajba ma’ xi translator. Sounds like the perfect Maltese day.
Sorry but I have to disagree with all those who oppose confession in Brussels. Tant hemm daghha fahxi bhalissa illi they will soon be needing more than just one priest to cope.
Anyone speaking about ‘Ikel Malti’ must have a screw loose. There is practically not a single dish that is distinctly Maltese (not even pastizzi).