The dilemma of bilingual culture in Malta

"Being a bilingual nation one must differentiate between works written in Maltese and those written in English", considers the Maltese daily in its editorial. "If a publishing house ... issued [the magazine] 'Treasures of Malta' in Maltese, the fear of not selling would be a determining factor. Apart from the fact that writing 'Treasures of Malta' in Maltese could pose a linguistic problem for those regular contributors who for years have been writing in English, would it be worth the bother and risk to do so simply to say the publication is in the national language? And would this result in an expansion in the target audience, unless Treasures is published in both languages? ... To be truly representational of literary circles, we must as a nation come to terms with our bilingualism and accept both languages spoken concurrently without embarrassment or inhibition. Only in this way will literature, as an art, thrive and develop onto something worth shouting about."

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