My Maltese readers know what I’m talking about: that peculiar combination of Maltese and English spoken mainly – but not exclusively – in the Sliema area. The “tal-pepe” (if I must translate it, I would say it’s more or less the equivalent of “snobs”, but there’s so much more to it…) are known for their hilarious pronunciation (desperate to sound English, often failing miserably) and exaggerated use of the interjection “ta”. I could write a book about this phenomenon, but in today's post my focus is not on pronunciation...
I’ve been living in Malta for two years and nine months. I love this country, its history, its culture and its people. I hate… spelling errors. They’re everywhere. A typo is no big deal (just in case your eyes are scanning the screen in search of MY typos – yes, even translators and proofreaders sometimes fail in the spelling department), but some mistakes just can’t be forgiven.
The Maltese (I don’t like generalising, but sometimes one’s got no choice) just can’t seem to get it right. Today I bought four rolls at the supermarket and guess what… the packet says “ones thawed do not refreeze” (should read “once” of course). Okay, that’s a minor one, but what about this: “denger” spray-painted in huge red letters across a high wall surrounding a building site? Or better even: “no parkink”, not once, not twice, but three times! Then there’s the classics: “recieve”, the “it's”/“its” confusion and “responsable”. And our “foriegn” visitors should “definately” taste our wonderful “saucage” rolls on the promenade…
No comments:
Post a Comment