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Changing English verbs to Maltese

I’m pretty sure that this a universal thing that non-native English speakers do, and it’s so common that most of the time we don’t even notice it.

An example of this would be the verb To Google. Obviously, this is a pretty common verb nowadays and other languages modify this so that it can fit in the normal verb structures of said language:

Swedish: att googla

Polish: googlować

Russian: гуглить (guglit’)

How does it work in Maltese?

obviously you need to be familar with Maltese verb structures, but here’s how it generally works:

first you add the corresponding affix to the English verb dependig on which person is doing the action:

ni- – I

ti- – you

ji- – he

ti- – she

ni- – we

ti- – you

ji- – they

and then add these suffixes to the English verb:

-ja (singular)

-jaw (plural)

(also sometimes people change the spelling of the English verb to a more Maltese one)

nigoogleja / nigugilja - I google

examples using other verbs: tifuckja / tifakkja - you fuck up nibreakjaw / nibrejkjaw - we stopped the car (press ‘break’)

Past Tense

you just add the affix -i and any of these corresponding suffixes:

-jajt - I

-jajt - you

-ja - he

-jat - she

-jajna - we

-jajtu - you

-jaw - they

exampels; ifuckjajt / ifakkjajt - I fucked up ibreakjajna / ibrejkjajna - we stopped the car

please note that this is very informal and not correct. it’s only used in speech and when texting with friends etc. even though sometimes there are available Maltese verbs, people use ‘Malteseified’ versions of English ones

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Please stop mixing these up, I’m begging you

Because words mean things, here are some definitions. All of these taken from their respective Wikipedia articles.

Linguistics is the scientific study of language, and involves an analysis of language form, language meaning, and language in context.

Polyglotism or multilingualism is the ability to master, or the state of having mastered, multiple languages. Sometimes people who are currently learning languages in an effort to become fluent in them are also called polyglots.

Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary criticism, history, and linguistics.

Ergo:

Some linguists are also polyglots, but not all of them.

Basic linguistic knowledge is necessary to learn a language, but they’re still separate things.

Polyglots know how to drive different kinds of vehicles. Linguists are mechanics.

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This is what my two biggest sets now look like! Still barely anything, but a good start

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What I’ve been doing most of my evening? Adding new vocab to my Quizlet sets. I haven’t updated them in a week and wanted to start learning some more vocab and I’ve probably quadrupled the amount of vocab I’ve had before now

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Computing Forever on Pidgin BBC

Disclaimer: This is a very opinionated article.

Recently an American friend of mine texted me a video he wanted me to see. He exclaimed how he agreed with everything mentioned and that this is just some more SJW bullshit, as he called it. Me and my friend don't share political opinions, which is good for having a discussion. I decided to give the video a watch and it made me furious. The video I am talking about is called "The BBC's Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations"¹ by a YouTuber called "Computing Forever". Seeing the title, I was thinking it had to do with how he hated mainstream media and while the video does have to do with that, it also has to do with a new language the BBC is now available in: Pidgin (Pidgin English). In this article, I will be trying to focus mainly on the language aspect he mentions, but I might also bring in some other political things.

Computing Forever starts out by saying that the BBC has launched its services in a new language called Pidgin. Already, he starts by being quite negative towards the entire thing. He highlights how this is not a parody and that this is actually a website in "broken English"00:42. Already, this rings all my lingustic alarm bells. But I decided watch further. He puts on a weird voice (I assume to highlight how stupid the people who defend this apparently are) and saying that there will be people who will say that Pidgin is such a rich and nuanced language and that if the BBC can be translated into French or Chinese, then Pidgin should be allowed on it as well01:11. He then counters that argument by saying that these (i.e. French, Chinese, Italian ...) are officially recognised languages and that Pidgin isn't01:29. At this point I nearly threw my keyboard at my screen. I would like to know where he got this from. What is an officially recognised language in his opinion? A language that is big enough for him to care about it? A language that can fit into his close-minded world-view?

I just about managed to keep watching at this point. He mentiones how it is just a "semi-literate attempt at speaking the (English) language"01:34. The example he gives says how if he started learning Spanish and he tried speaking it a few months after starting, he would speak "crappy Spanish" and that if Pidgin English can be recognised as a language then his "crappy Spanish" should be as well01:51. Firstly, no. Speaking a language badly is not the same as speaking a Pidgin language. A Pidgin is, quoting from Wikipedia, a "[...] grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups that do not have a language in common: typically, a mixture of simplified languages or a simplified primary language with other languages' elements included."² A Pidgin language isn't just simply a broken form of a language. It is a very simplified version indeed, but only because English grammar is much simpler than German doesn't mean that English is any less of a language. Pidgin English has features not found in regular English, mainly from those languages that are native to the country where it originated. If an English speaker attempted to read something in Pidgin English, I doubt they would understand everything.

"Na for March na im Cameroon take hand sign agreement with Nigeria and di United Nations refugee agency wey be UNHCR - Cameroon bin promise to make sure say refugees return by demself, as dem lik." Source

What is the "na" and why is it there? Why is there a "say" there? These are words and grammatical constructs that aren't used in regular English. If Computing Forever attempted to speak Spanish after a few months of having studied it, I highly doubt that he would be making up his own grammatical rules like these. Also, I have talked to many people from West Africa, and they all knew English along side of Pidgin English. Pidgin English for them is often a means of communication for daily life. It is a lot more flexible and easier to learn than English, which is important for a region that has this many diverse cultures and languages that wouldn't otherwise be able to communicate. Furthermore, languages such as French or Spanish developed from a language called Latin. They are a lot simplier than Latin though and introduced their own grammatical rules and added words from other languages. Does this mean that French or Spanish aren't worthy languages and shouldn't be studied because they are "not as complex" or "not as nuanced" as Latin? No! I believe that Computing Forever is a racist who is basically saying that those who speak the language are people with "little to no education"01:45

A little later in the video, he just completly starts to insult the language by saying how it is just a "low-literacy, piss-poor syntax, barely articulate version of English"04:32. He goes on by saying that there will be people calling him racist for critisising the BBC, but he believes the opposite is true04:49. He thinks that the BBC is saying that the people shouldn't better themselves (those who live in the countries that speak that language) by getting a better education and by doing that also becoming fluent in English05:00. Furthermore, he says that the BBC should produce a platform where people who speak Pidgin can learn how to speak English properly05:23. While it is certainly a good idea for people to learn English properly, I don't think one should be forced to learn English. The world doesn't revolve around English! Yes, it is true that English has become one of the world's most widely spoken languages, but why is it okay then that the BBC is offered in French? The French people who can't speak English (well), should they have to learn English? Isn't it great that those who aren't proficient at English yet get to read news in their own native language? Or that people who are fluent in English get to read things in their native language? My native language is German, but I also speak English nearly fluently. Does that mean that I will have to read everything in English and that websites in German should be banned? Besides, reading something in your native language is always different from reading something in a second language. And lastly, I have already mentioned that all the West Africans I've talked to actually do speak English alongside of Pidgin English, which is mainly used for communication between different tribes / villages who often have drastically different languages.

All in all, I believe that Computing Forever has never studied a foreign language nor does he know anything about lingustics. He is just someone who is scared of all the foreigners taking over his beautiful language and "bastardising" it. He is being plainly racist in this video, while actually saying that he isn't. He has the typical Anglo-Saxon world-view, which is that his beautiful English language is the best language and that languages like Pidgin English are just a "shitty" version of English.