What language is spoken in Malta?

Both Italian and Maltese are well spoken in Malta

But Maltese is the official language

That response is devious. While Maltese is the official language, English is the predominant working language, particularly in business, the professions and with the EU and the world.

English has been taught as the main language in Malta since Alexander Ball was made welcome and protection from the United Kingdom, requested by the Maltese. At the time, the educated language had been Italian but, while respecting the existing norms, the British Administration, at the time, worked overtime to install English as the operative language of the day.

Italy is just a stone's throw from Malta and Italian used to be the 'cultured' language of the Island among a substantial minority of Malta families who hailed from Italy.

Although widely understood, Italian is not widely spoken. Today, it is possibly a third language, studied in some schools and almost exclusively middle class. Italians complain bitterly that the Maltese insist in adopting a strange pronunciation and intonation when speaking the language. This needs to be addressed seriously, now that Malta plays and will play an increasingly greater part in international relations.

The education system needs to take on board the urgent need to include more 'native listening' of a taught language - this includes English. While regional accents are a normality, excessive altering of the spoken language to fit in with the native tongue - in this case, Maltese - a semitic language - detracts too much from the target language. It also places an unnecessary barrier between the persons conversing with each other.

Finally, while English, being an international - even universal language - can absorb extreme varieties of style and usage, Italian, French, Spanish and German cannot. In each of these countries, there is a language academy - a national authority that somehow dictates a standard form of the language which is taught almost uniformly across the country.

While Germans are extremely tolerant about their language with regard to foreigners speaking it, the Italians, French and Spanish are increasingly particular and dismiss visitors who attempt to speak the language in a haphazard way and frequently refuse to understand the rendition offered.