Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1515420
16 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 4 FEBRUARY 2024 JAMES DEBONO jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt Examiners denounce the Menglish scourge: 'over-populazzjoni', 'stagju' and 'kustomers' REPORTS on the performance of students in Maltese examinations at Ordinary, Intermediate and Ad- vanced levels have denounced the increased tendency of students to use English words, idioms, mor- phological structure and expres- sions. According to an examiner re- port for the Advanced level exam this phenomenon reflects "the increased presence of people hail- ing from families of foreign prov- enance, which also includes many students sitting for the exam." The A-level report lists a number of examples of this "interference" which according to the report has a major impact bound to condition the future direction of the Maltese language. The list of words used by students include avvantaġġ (ad- vantage), danġeruż (dangerous); elektriku (electric), fiżikali (physi- cal), konstruzzjoni (construction), numbru (number), substanzi (sub- stances), conċern (concern) fuq il-banda l-oħra ( on the other side), fuq it-triq (on the road), ippromot- jati (promoted), isalvaw l-enerġija (save energy) and jieħdu ħajjith- om b'idejhom (they take their own lives). Moreover, there is an increased tendency to construct Maltese words on phonetical and morpho- logical models, derived from the English language. Examples cited from exam papers include staġju (stage), obsessjon (obsession), sim- ilari (similar), negletta (neglected), spesifikament (specifically), op- timiżmu (optimism), inħabitata (disinhibited), signifikanti (signifi- cantly) , inspirata (inspired), eventi (events) and ħarmonija (harmony). English influence is also evident at idiomatic level. Examples of this include jilgħab il-pjanu (playing the piano), jiġi għall-konklużjo- ni (arrive at the conclusion) and saqsieha tiżżewġu (asked her to marry him). Others simply resort- ed directly to English words using word play such as 'qalbu mimlija envy' (his heart was full of envy) in- stead of 'qalbu mimlija għira'. The same pattern in the use English and in some cases Italian expressions were observed in the O-level report. Examples found in essays and reports presented by students included overpopu- lazzjoni (overpopulation), max- inerija tal-bottles tal-plastic (re- verse vending machines), irridu noqogħdu viġilanti (we need to be vigilant), inħobbu nilagħbu ċ-ċajt fuq xulxin (play jokes on each oth- er), il-biċikletta (bicycle), il-fattoriji (factory), il-farmaċija (pharmacy) and spakkat (cracked). The report also denounces the repeated use of English fillers like "so" which is of- ten use as a conjunction. Curiously a number of students used English words written using Maltese phonetics. These included the words kustomers (customers). During the reading compo- nent in the intermediate level ex- am, a number of students read the % symbol as "perċentwali" or "persentaġġ" instead of "fil-mija", and several simply read it in Eng- lish (percent). Other "linguistic interferences" noted in the oral in- terview included the direct use of English colloquial expressions like "for example", "on the whole" and "I mean". The report on the intermediate exam concludes that "the influence of English on Maltese is sometimes resulting in serious deficiencies in- cluding the word by word transla- tion of English phrases. Examples cited in the report include "l-av- veniment se jieħu post" (the event will take place) , "m'għadux fl-ista- mpa" (out of the the picture). 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