Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/981272
| SUNDAY • 13 MAY 2018 maltatoday 11 SURVEY THE MALTESE LANGUAGE FULL SURVEY AND RESULTS uploaded on MaltaToday.com.mt on Monday NEWS ON THE INTERNET Maltese: 19% English: 36.5% Both: 24.3% Don't read: 19.1% People have a higher preference for reading news in English on the internet, although almost a quarter say they prefer both languages. The highest preference for English is among those aged 18-35 (49%), declining to 19.1% among those aged 65 and over. However, the least likely to read news on the internet are the elderly with 60.4% admitting they do not follow online news. A similarly high level of non-fol- lowers of news on the internet is found among those with a primary school level of education (75.9%). The situation is more evenly spread among those with a second- ary education – 30% prefer reading online news in Maltese, 24.2% pre- fer English, 21.8% both languages and 22.4% don't read follow news on the web. The preference for English is high- er among those with a post-sec- ondary and tertiary education with 46.8% and 57.9% respectively. Preference for English cuts across regions, including Gozo. The island region has the lowest percentage (16%) of those who prefer reading news only in Maltese online, despite having the highest share of people who speak Maltese at home. Indeed, Gozo has the highest share (45.1%) of people who prefer news in English when browsing the inter- net. While an absolute majority of PN voters opt for English online, PL supporters are evenly spread out with a relative majority (26.6%) pre- ferring to read in either of both lan- guages. READING BOOKS Maltese: 27.7% English: 37.5% Both: 20% Don't read: 14.2% Women read books more than men and they strongly prefer Eng- lish to Maltese, according to the survey findings. Asked in which language they pre- fer reading books, 41.9% of women said English, 27.5% said Maltese and 21.5% said both. Only 9.1 % of women, as opposed to 20.7% of men, said they do not read books. The results show that the young have the strongest preference for reading books in English (50.4%), with the balance shifting in favour of Maltese among those aged 51 and over. Gozo and the South Eastern re- gions are those where book read- ing is most prevalent. Only 8.2% of Gozitans and 9.8% of those living in the South East do not read. The highest percentage of those who admitted not to read books, (17.3%) was in the Western region. Reading books in English prevails across all regions except the South East and the Southern Harbour, where Maltese books are the pre- ferred option. But both southern regions, also have the highest num- ber of people who prefer reading in both Maltese and English. Those with a primary and sec- ondary education prefer Maltese to English, although they are also those who do not read most. English is the preferred choice among those with a post-secondary and tertiary education. PN voters by far prefer reading in English (46.6%) while PL voters pre- fer Maltese (38.3%). USING FACEBOOK Maltese: 19.9% English: 30.7% Both: 23.3% Don't use FB: 25.6% English is the primary choice of language for Facebook users and not surprisingly the highest preva- lence is among those aged 18 and 35. Among the young, 45% say they prefer to write status posts in Eng- lish, followed by 30.1% who use both Maltese and English. But the figures also show how Facebook use drops among those aged 51 and over, reaching a whopping 76.3% of the elderly who say they do not use the social media platform. Men are almost equally split between using Maltese (23.4%), English (27.7%) or both languag- es (22.2%) when using Facebook, while women are more likely to use English (33.1%), as opposed to Maltese (17.2%) or both (24.2%). Facebook use in English pre- vails across the country but in the southern regions use of Maltese is almost neck and neck. Among those with a primary ed- ucation, 84.5% say they do not use Facebook, which is indicative of a cohort made up largely of elderly people. PL voters are evenly split be- tween use of Maltese (24.6%) and use of both languages (23%), while PN voters overwhelmingly pre- fer English (48.2%), as opposed to Maltese (14.9%) and both languag- es (17.3%). Methodology The MaltaToday survey was carried out between Monday 23 April and Friday 27 April, 2018. Stratified random sampling defined by age, gender and region discriminants was used to replicate the fidelity of the population. There were 553 respondents who chose to take part in the survey. The margin of error for a confidence interval of 95% is estimated at 4.2%. Regions used in the survey The regions are based on the classification determined by the National Statistics Office. Southern Harbour: Valletta, Vittoriosa, Senglea, Cospicua, Zabbar, Fgura, Floriana, Kalkara, Luqa, Marsa, Paola, St Lucija, Tarxien, Xghajra. Northern Harbour: Qormi, Birkirkara, Gzira, Hamrun, Msida, Pembroke, Pieta, St Julians, San Gwann, St Venera, Sliema, Swieqi, Ta' Xbiex. South Eastern: Zejtun, Birzebbuga, Gudja, Ghaxaq, Kirkop, Marsascala, Marsaxlokk, Mqabba, Qrendi, Safi, Zurrieq. Western: Mdina, Zebbug, Siggiewi, Attard, Balzan, Dingli, Iklin, Lija, Rabat, Mtarfa. Northern: Gharghur, Mellieha, Mgarr, Mosta, Naxxar, St Paul's Bay. Gozo: Gozo and Comino 79.0% 18.6% 80.0% 18.2% 78.2% 18.8% 76.2% 20.1% 72.4% 25.7% 84.9% 13.9% 85.2% 12.6% 91.3% 8.7% 78.6% 20.5% 72.0% 3.7% 24.3% 82.9% 16.0% 85.7% 10.3% 77.3% 20.2% 93.7% 6.3% 85.8% 13.5% 65.6% 6.1% 28.2% 72.9% 23.9% 79.4% 17.7% 87.3% 11.9% 71.6% 26.1% OVERALL Males Females 18-35 36-50 51-65 65+ Gozo Northern Northern Harbour South Eastern Southern Harbour Western Primary Secondary Post-Sec Tertiary No vote 2017 Voted PL in 2017 Voted PN in 2017 Maltese English Maltese & English At home, in which language do you speak most frequently? We chose the national poet of Malta Dun Karm Psaila, who penned the words to the Maltese national anthem, on our front page to illustrate the prevalence of Maltese in society and why the language remains so important in defining who the Maltese are as a nation