Iċ-Chairperson ta’ AD Carmel Cacopardo, flimkien ma’ Arnold Cassola illum żaru l-fiera tal-ktieb li saret l-Universita’ ta’ Malta. Fi stqarrija illum, Alternattiva Demokratika qalet:

“Huwa ironiku li filwaqt li waqt dil-fiera qed niċċelebraw il-lingwi, il-Ministru u l-Bord Matsec qed jipproponu li jibdlu l-eżamijiet bil-Malti billi jintroduċi eżami ġdid, “Malti bħala lingwa barranija”.

Xejn ħażin f’dan. Din hija idea tajba jekk hija maħsuba għal barranin li huma interessati li jtejbu l-ħiliet tagħhom fil-lingwa Maltija, ħiliet importanti ħafna għal min irid jintegra bis-serjeta’ fis-soċjeta’ Maltija. Wara l-furur li qam jidher li qed jinġiebu ħafna skużi biex jinħeba l-għan oriġinali tal-eżami. Huwa ta’ għajb li din l-idea ġiet proposta, aħseb u ara jekk tiġi implimentata.

Jidher li dan l-eżami, kif propost oriġinaljament, se jkollu l-istess pożizzjoni legali bħall-eżami SEC preżenti (Livell 3) u għalhekk jista’ jissostitwixxi l-eżami tal-Malti preżenti u kull ċittadin Malti se jkun jista’ joqgħod għall-Malti bħala lingwa barranija minflok.

Immaġina t-Taljani jistudjaw it-Taljan bħala Lingwa Barranija, il-Franċiżi, il-Franċiż bħala lingwa barranija, il-Ġappuniżi l-Ġappuniż bħala lingwa barranija, per eżempju. Kieku jqum furur kbir f’dawn il-pajjiżi. Kull student fis-sistema edukattiva Maltija, tkun xi tkun l-iskola, għandu jitgħallem il-Malti sew. Diġa’ hemm studenti barranin li kapaċi jitkellmu u jitgħallmu l-Malti b’mod eċċellenti, aħseb u ara l-istudenti Maltin.

Alternattiva Demokratika ġġieldet bil-qawwa biex il-Malti jiġi rikonoxxut bħala lingwa uffiċjali tal-UE. Wara s-suċċess tal-battalja tagħna fl-2004, l-Irlanda u Spanja ddeċidew li joħroġu l-flus mill-fondi nazzjonali biex jiżguraw li dokumenti tal-UE jiġu tradotti għal-lingwa Gallika u l-Katalan, il-Bask u l-Galizjan rispettivament. Aħna l-Maltin, mhux talli ma sarx infieq mill-budget nazzjonali iżda infetħulna miljuni ta’ Ewro f’impjiegi ta’ tradutturi, interpreti, qarrejja ta’ provi, u impjiegi oħra relatati.

Il-Ministru Bartolo, issa qiegħed jissogra jpoġġi l-impjiegi ta’ dawn it-tradutturi, interpreti u qarrejja tal-provi f’riskju bil-proposta tiegħu. Tali proposta tpoġġi f’riskju wkoll ir-rilevanza tad-Dipartiment tat-Traduzzjoni u l-Interpretazzjoni fl-Università ta’ Malta. Fl-istituzzjonijiet tal-UE hemm spinta qawwija biex jiffrankaw l-flus fuq il-lingwi, billi jiġu eliminati l-lingwi kollha u jibqgħu wżati biss l-Ingliż, il-Franċiż u Ġermaniż. Din il-proposta hija totalment inaċċettabbli.

Proposta li ċittadini Maltin li twieldu u trabbew f’Malta jistgħu jistudjaw il-Malti bħala lingwa barranija tagħti lil Brussell l-skuża meħtieġa biex jiffrankaw miljuni ta’ Ewro, billi ma jibqgħux jqisu l-Malti bħala lingwa uffiċjali tal-UE.

Aktar milli nbaxxu l-lingwa nazzjonali tagħna, lingwa uffiċjali tal-UE għal “Malti bħala lingwa barranija,” ikun aħjar għall-Ministeru tal-Edukazzjoni illi jistudja bir-reqqa għaliex is-sistema bi-lingwi tagħna qed tagħti riżultati xejn sbieħ, b’madwar 30% tal-istudenti ma jtemmux l-edukazzjoni obbligatorja b’ħiliet f’suġġetti importanti, u jistudja kif, per eżempju, s-sistema tri-lingwi tal-Lussemburgu hija ta’ success. X’inhuma jagħmlu tajjeb biex il-Lussemburgu hija l-ewwel fil-kompetenzi lingwistiċi fl-Unjoni Ewropea?”

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Instead of giving in to pressure to undermine the status of Maltese, the Ministry for Education should study the successes of other education systems

Carmel Cacopardo, AD Chairperson and Arnold Cassola today visited the book fair at the University of Malta. In a statement Alternattiva Demokratika said:

“It is ironic that while we are here celebrating languages, the Minister and the Matsec Board are proposing to change the exams in Maltese by introducing a new exam, ‘Maltese as a foreign language’.

There is nothing wrong in that. Indeed this is an excellent idea, if it were meant for foreigners who are interested in improving their Maltese language skills, so necessary for those who really want to integrate well into Maltese society. Instead, it seems that this exam will have the same legal standing as the present SEC exam (Level 3) and therefore it would be able to substitute the present Maltese exam and any Maltese national will be able to sit for Maltese as a foreign language instead. It seems that now, the Minister is backtracking.

It is a shame that such an idea was even conceived. Imagine Italians sitting for Italian as a Foreign Language, the French for French as a foreign language, the Japanese sitting for Japanese as a foreign language and so on. There would be an uproar in the country.

Alternattiva Demokratika had fought strenuously for Maltese to be recognised as an official language of the EU. Following the successful outcome of our battle in 2004, Ireland and Spain decided to fork out their own national money in order to ensure that documents could be translated into and debated in, respectively, Gaelic and Catalan/Basque/Galician, whenever deemed necessary.  We Maltese, instead, opened up millions of euros worth of jobs for translators, interpreters, proof readers, and so on without forking out a penny.

Minister Bartolo is risking putting the jobs of all these translators, interpreters, proof readers, and others at risk with his Matsec proposal. This proposal also risks rendering the Department of Translation and Interpreting at the University of Malta irrelevant.  In the EU institutions there is a strong push to save money on languages, by eliminating all and just have English, French and German as working languages.  This is totally unacceptable. Every student living in Malta, in the Maltese education system, whatever the type of school should learn Maltese properly and to a high level. There are foreign students in the Maltese system who speak and learn Maltese perfectly, so Maltese students should be able to do so as well.

Evarist Bartolo’s proposal that Maltese nationals born and bred in Malta can sit for Maltese as a Foreign Language will give Brussels the excuse needed to save millions of euros, by not having Maltese any longer as an official language of the EU.

Rather than demoting our national language and official EU language to “Maltese as  a foreign language”, it would be better for our Ministry of Education to examine why our bi-lingual system is giving such dismal results in school, with around 30% of our youths not completing compulsory education, and studying how, for example, the tri-lingual Luxembourg system is so successful, such as to be first country in the EU for language proficiency.”