As Malta’s workforce becomes increasingly international, businesses may find themselves using less Maltese in day-to-day interactions – but University of Malta academic Prof. Michael Spagnol argues that employers can play a practical role in keeping the language relevant in the workplace.
In a recent Facebook post reflecting on the changing use of Maltese, Prof. Spagnol noted that demographic changes have altered the linguistic landscape of workplaces and public-facing services.
Around a third of Malta’s population was born abroad, he observed, meaning English often becomes the common language when people with different mother tongues work and interact together.
This can be particularly noticeable in sectors such as hospitality, retail, transport, healthcare and tourism, where customers may increasingly encounter employees who have not been in Malta long enough to communicate in Maltese.
However, Prof. Spagnol's message to employers is not that workers need to become fluent overnight. Rather, businesses can start by helping foreign employees learn the Maltese words and phrases that are directly relevant to their jobs.
An employer with waiters who are still learning the language, for example, could teach basic words such as platt (plate), tazza (glass), ilma (water), furketta (fork) and sikkina (knife), he suggested.
Similarly, colleagues can help foreign workers pick up everyday phrases such as bonġu (good morning), grazzi (thank you), għandek bżonn basket? (do you need a bag?) and il-ġurnata t-tajba (have a good day).
Childcare operators could also consider teaching employees basic Maltese phrases that they can use with children, particularly when staff members spend several hours each day interacting with Maltese-speaking youngsters.
Maltese courses for foreign workers
Employers looking to go beyond informal workplace learning can also make use of existing courses and resources.
The University of Malta offers Maltese language courses aimed at non-native speakers, providing foreigners living and working in Malta with the opportunity to develop their ability to communicate in the language.
Prof. Spagnol said that hundreds of people attend Maltese courses at the University each semester, often doing so after finishing their working day.
He and his colleagues have also developed courses and learning materials for people who want to learn Maltese, including resources tailored to particular sectors and professions.
These have included employees working in healthcare, grocery stores and at the airport, among other public-facing roles.
Finding the right Maltese terminology
Another practical resource is Dizzjunarju.mt, which provides access to Maltese vocabulary online and can help users find and understand words they may need in everyday and professional contexts. It is a work in progress.
Work is also being carried out to ensure Maltese vocabulary keeps pace with specialised fields.
Prof. Spagnol highlighted efforts to collect terminology from traditional areas such as construction, agriculture, lace-making and baking, alongside the development of specialised dictionaries in collaboration with experts from different sectors.
Specialised dictionaries covering economics, geography, and aviation have already been produced, while work is ongoing on terminology related to theatre, law and other fields.
The aim, he explained, is to ensure that a lack of terminology does not become a barrier to using Maltese professionally.
“When people have the word they need, there is a greater chance that they will use the language,” he said.
'Speak to us'
For businesses, Prof. Spagnol's says that employers do not have to develop workplace language resources from scratch.
“We are constantly developing materials and courses. Speak to us.”
While he acknowledged that Maltese has become less common in some everyday settings, he also pointed to areas where its presence has grown, including music, podcasts, social media and greeting cards.
For the workplace, the challenge is therefore not simply to tell people to use Maltese more, but to give them the tools to make doing so practical.
A language does not survive simply because people are told to use it, he argued. It survives when people find it useful, relevant and natural in their work and everyday lives.
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