International Journal of Bilingual
Education and Bilingualism
Editor: Colin Baker, University of Wales, Bangor
Review Editor: Aneta Pavlenko, Temple University, Philadelpia
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Volume: 4 Number: 1 Page: 23–37
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Trilingualism in Malta: Social and Educational Perspectives
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Lydia Sciriha
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Malta's two official languages, Maltese and English, are both vestiges of the island's former colonisers. Maltese children are taught the country's two official languages as soon as they start school. Furthermore,
at secondary school level all children are required to learn, in addition to English and Maltese, at least a third and preferably a fourth language. This paper seeks to discover the reasons behind Maltese
children's selection of languages. In the choice of language, persons do not simply select an instrument for mutual understanding and communication. Language is used to define worldviews and construct meanings
about the speakers and the geo-political reality around them. What do the results of a large-scale linguistic survey conducted by the present author in 1999 reveal about the popularity of the languages
on offer? Why is it that although the country's indigenous language, Maltese, is a variety of Arabic, few if any respondents choose to learn Arabic?
© Multilingual Matters 2001
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