Comments on: Our tribal leaders leave the village, go out to deal with the White Chiefs, come back to the tribe and say… https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2015/04/our-tribal-leaders-leave-the-village-go-out-to-deal-with-the-white-chiefs-come-back-to-the-tribe-and-say/ Daphne Caruana Galizia is a journalist working in Malta. Sat, 25 Apr 2015 15:24:00 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: SonofWalter https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2015/04/our-tribal-leaders-leave-the-village-go-out-to-deal-with-the-white-chiefs-come-back-to-the-tribe-and-say/#comment-3037858 Sat, 25 Apr 2015 15:24:00 +0000 http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/?p=62195#comment-3037858 I did not mention English. I specifically mentioned the use of Italian when speaking to Italian politicians.

]]> By: Daphne Caruana Galizia https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2015/04/our-tribal-leaders-leave-the-village-go-out-to-deal-with-the-white-chiefs-come-back-to-the-tribe-and-say/#comment-3037813 Fri, 24 Apr 2015 18:40:00 +0000 http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/?p=62195#comment-3037813 Two wrongs don’t make a right. You don’t tackle another person’s apathy and bad manners with apathy and bad manners of your own.

And we’re not here to teach other adults lessons by ‘giving them a taste of their own medicine’, especially if we are the prime minister.

]]> By: Kenneth Howard Haber https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2015/04/our-tribal-leaders-leave-the-village-go-out-to-deal-with-the-white-chiefs-come-back-to-the-tribe-and-say/#comment-3037810 Fri, 24 Apr 2015 18:31:00 +0000 http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/?p=62195#comment-3037810 In reply to Joshua Valletta.

Tabarnak, everyone should speak French as a second language.

]]> By: Daphne Caruana Galizia https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2015/04/our-tribal-leaders-leave-the-village-go-out-to-deal-with-the-white-chiefs-come-back-to-the-tribe-and-say/#comment-3037806 Fri, 24 Apr 2015 18:26:00 +0000 http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/?p=62195#comment-3037806 In reply to Joshua Valletta.

No, I’m just dealing with bigots all day every day at the moment, it seems. When migration is in the news, it brings them out of the woodwork, to the point that even normally level-headed people become impossible to converse with.

]]> By: James Vella Clark https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2015/04/our-tribal-leaders-leave-the-village-go-out-to-deal-with-the-white-chiefs-come-back-to-the-tribe-and-say/#comment-3037804 Fri, 24 Apr 2015 18:23:00 +0000 http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/?p=62195#comment-3037804 In reply to SonofWalter.

I’d rather show them how good we are that we can speak their language rather than stooping to their level. This would even contrast with their PM’s struggle to even speak decent English.

]]> By: Joshua Valletta https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2015/04/our-tribal-leaders-leave-the-village-go-out-to-deal-with-the-white-chiefs-come-back-to-the-tribe-and-say/#comment-3037802 Fri, 24 Apr 2015 18:21:00 +0000 http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/?p=62195#comment-3037802 In reply to Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Does ‘what the heck’ ring a bell to you Daphne? You must be tired.

]]> By: Daphne Caruana Galizia https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2015/04/our-tribal-leaders-leave-the-village-go-out-to-deal-with-the-white-chiefs-come-back-to-the-tribe-and-say/#comment-3037774 Fri, 24 Apr 2015 16:48:00 +0000 http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/?p=62195#comment-3037774 In reply to Joshua Valletta.

People speak whichever language they prefer to speak and whichever suits them best in the circumstances.

In any case, this is not a discussion about what language Maltese people should speak routinely, but a discussion about what language we should speak with people who don’t understand Maltese.

In that situation, you speak a shared language, and not your own.

]]> By: H.P. Baxxter https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2015/04/our-tribal-leaders-leave-the-village-go-out-to-deal-with-the-white-chiefs-come-back-to-the-tribe-and-say/#comment-3037773 Fri, 24 Apr 2015 16:41:00 +0000 http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/?p=62195#comment-3037773 Are they really devoid of all self-awareness?

]]> By: Joshua Valletta https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2015/04/our-tribal-leaders-leave-the-village-go-out-to-deal-with-the-white-chiefs-come-back-to-the-tribe-and-say/#comment-3037769 Fri, 24 Apr 2015 15:27:00 +0000 http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/?p=62195#comment-3037769 In reply to Daphne Caruana Galizia.

What the heck are you saying, Daphne? We should all speak Maltese.

]]> By: Daphne Caruana Galizia https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2015/04/our-tribal-leaders-leave-the-village-go-out-to-deal-with-the-white-chiefs-come-back-to-the-tribe-and-say/#comment-3037766 Fri, 24 Apr 2015 14:45:00 +0000 http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/?p=62195#comment-3037766 In reply to SonofWalter.

What ignorance. If you know the other person’s language and he doesn’t know yours, you speak his.

Language is a means of communication and not a badge of identity. Nor is it there to raise barriers.

Speaking languages other than your own is a good thing.

When people can’t communicate in any language other than their own (unless their own happens to be French of English, the international languages of diplomacy) they come across as uneducated and ignorant.

Beyond that, only crass and ill-mannered bigots insist on speaking their own language to others who can’t understand it, when they can speak a language which those others do understand.

Honestly, why do these things have to be explained.

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