forum language used

[redbus9]

hi guys,i don,t mean to be disrespectfull to the maltese language but the prefered language,as stated by skip is english.i am getting more and more frustrated by not being able to understand what is being posted on the forum as i don,t understand maltese.i have tried to learn it but my wife who is maltese is not a good teacher,and down the local bar they tend to teach me swear words but i don,t know they are bad words.if this forum is going to a global audience via the web,it would be far better if the posts were in english so many more people would be able to read them.i appreciate that some terms/phrases are purely maltese and this i can understand although i don,t know what they mean,but the rest of the post i can understand,but some of the topics are almost exclusively maltese language.i hope i haven,t offended anyone with this post,all i,m asking is can i read what your posting. please help me to read the posts,thank you   redbus9

[skip]

Hi Keith, in fact I am going to be discussing this with SimonG as things are getting out of hand now. Most probably what we'll do is have one or two discussion boards in Maltese for those who either can't or don't want to post in English and the rest of the forum boards will be restricted to English.

This may upset some people but aside from discussing what we're up to here in Malta amongst each other, one of the objectives of this forum is to provide information and entice people from other parts of the world with the fishing we do. The last 40 posts or so have all been in Maltese and out of the 6000 visitors who browse the site per month, 75% are from outside of Malta.

I think the best way to accomodate this and everyone is as I mentioned above having a couple of boards in Maltese because when a post starts off in English and continues in Maltese it ruins it for alot of people including myself. I used to follow all the discussions but lately I've just been opening seeing pages in Maltese and moving on.

Skip

[The_Gaffer]

Nick, good idea.  I can understand that a few people feel more comfortable expressing themselves in Maltese.  I for one am not that comfortable with the english names of local fish.  However, I also visit a Peter Pakula forum, called the Marlin Bar, and since alot of Hispanites (Mexicans, Spaniards,ect) visit the bar he also made available a few boards in their local language.  Would be a good gesture towards the growing number of members visiting and contributing to the forum.

[lazyfisherman]

I think that posts should in general be in English. I'm sure that some people are more fluent or comfortable when writing in Maltese, but I do not think that it is fair to write in Maltese, given that the forum administrator does not understand Maltese. As to things like fish names, they could still be written in Maltese even though the post itself would be in English.

Having said that, having a few discussion boards in Maltese might be a good idea, although it would still exclude those who cannot understand Maltese from some potentially interesting discussions. On the other hand it may encourage participation by those who find it difficult to express themselves in English.

[skip]

I wouldn't worry about me as I'm able to get my gf to translate here and there. Redbus isn't the only person who has expressed concern with alot of posts and threads switching to all Maltese, I've had some private messages and it's more the long term thing that concerns me. If you do a search in google on fishing in Malta, Malta Fishing, MFF tends to come up within the 1st five ranking, which has only happened as Google indexes all these posts and keywords.

Fish names are often referred to in Maltese and that should be no problem as there are several Maltese to English fish name guides easily found in Google etc.

I think there are quite a few people who perhaps don't post as they would prefer to do so in Maltese so I think it's important to accomodate everyone as much as possible.

[Diplodus Sargus]

Sorry guys for my last post in maltese regarding 'pariti f'Malta'. But i taught to post it in maltese because this is a subject that concerns us maltese people, I mean we at the end of the day have to take care of the sea around malta isn't that right?! My idea was that everybody will be informed of what is going on around our island, so at last somebody can do something about this problem.

[skip]

I have an idea what you might be talking about, but will admit I didnt follow though will have a friend translate. Do you like the idea of some Maltese only boards?

[lazyfisherman]

I really do not know whether having some Maltese only boards is a good idea or not. Personally, I am equally comfortable in expressing myself both in English and in Maltese so it will not really make a difference.

What is definitely not good is having threads starting in English and than switching over to Maltese. It looks messy and puts people off.

[fishfinder]

Sorry Skip and all foreign members

I always reply the same language the topic started without noticing that i've changed language but still I agree that some topics must be in Maltese cause there are some issued which unfortunately we should be ashamed that other countries knows how Malta is not inforcing any laws in such cases like the one it started with nets in ports, at least this is my opinion.

[Perla 165]

Sorry imma forsi se tonqsu lil dawk il maltin li matanc jafu bl-ingliz, wara kollox il forum jitkellem l-aktar fuq il bahar ta malta , huwt li nsibu fih u naqsmu xi esperjenza flimkien. Ahna ilkoll Maltin manarax ghalxiex ghandi nitkellem blingliz . Jien hekk inhoss niskuza ruhi al dawk li forsi jifmuha diferenti mini. Grazzi

[boneshaker]

jin ukoll naqbel ma perla165 nemmen li wara kollox mill isem tijaw stess tan il forum juri li huwa al malta u l lingwa ta malta hija l malti....nghid alija jin iktar insiba facli nispiega ruhi bil malti u f certu kazi hija difficli biex tfiehem bl ingliz perezempju bif tkalna konzu u tarmah u aktar...sry imma dik l opinjoni tijaj.grazzi

[skip]

Guys I hear what you're saying, Perla, Boneshaker etc clearly prefer to express themselves in Maltese and I can understand that. Just to point out however, actually the official languages in Malta are both Maltese and English; Maltese became an official language alongside English in 1934!

Basically so as not to exclude those who prefer to write in Maltese I think we will be definately creating a couple of Maltese boards so that they can continue to enjoy the forum, and share their experiences.

Again I open this up to you guys to suggest what two types of boards you would like so that we can get it right. I would guess one would be a General Board, not sure about the other.

The chat box will remain open for any language!

[blueskip]

I think that seeing as this Forum is called the MaltaFishingForum.com then the first language of the Maltese people should most certainly be used as & when somebody feels they want to do so.
We have for many, many, years, struggled to get the Welsh Language recognised as the first language of Wales, & despite much opposition from the government, road signs, public notices, official announcements are bi-lingual. If you phone up any local government department & ask to converse through the medium of the Welsh language, they will put you on to a Welsh speaker.
If I want to know what somebody has written in Maltese, surely all I have to do is send them a message, asking them to translate for me, not too much to ask to preserve your heritage is it?
blueskip   

[placebo]

i think that maltese who feel at ease expressing themselves in maltese should continue to do so...after all maltese now is a recognised language in europe!

the most important thing is that we keep answering foreigners and am sure we will continue to do so in english when they need information!

[ramio]

What ever we do as regards, there is always someone who suffers. Its not fair on all those who write or understand only one language, being maltese or english.
Having maltes only slots would be eliminating info for others, espetially the outsiders. I would suggest we keep all as is, and let everyone write with what he feels most comfortable in. If there is an interesting thread, and somone needs a translation, I'm sure there would be one of us following the thread who would explain it to him, they just ask.