Watch: Bernard Grech Rolls Back Proposal Obliging All Foreign Workers To Learn Basic Maltese
Opposition Leader Bernard Grech appears to have rolled back a proposal that would make it mandatory for third-country nationals to pass a basic Maltese language course if they wish to extend their work permit.
Interviewed on F Living, Grech said that “not necessarily every” foreign worker needs to learn Maltese, using people who work in the financial services industry as an example.
However, he stressed that it is an important skill for the likes of carers and nurses who deal with vulnerable, elderly people, and used his own late mother’s communication problems at St Vincent de Paul as an example.
“My mother ended up at SVDP because she could no longer eat solid food, and nurses and carers had to feed her in case the food went down her windpipe and choked her,” Grech recounted.
“It would have been problematic enough for such a frail patient to communicate with a Maltese person, let alone a foreigner. She would feel that she was choking and couldn’t say so, or she would try and say she’s choking (in Maltese) and get a ‘What’ ma’am?’ or ‘Yes, dear?’ in response. They did so with all the love in the world but if they couldn’t understand her…”
“Sometimes they would speak to her and, although she knew English, she wouldn’t understand them, either because they didn’t speak clearly or because she wasn’t used to the words they spoke. This lack of communication impacted her treatment and her quality of life.”
Bernard Grech with his late mother Frida
Grech went on to say that waiters should understand basic English, as well as basic Maltese “if needs be”.
“You don’t only eat out because you’re hungry but because you want to celebrate an event or relax. Why should you have to suffer when communicating with the waiters? Why should you ask the waiter what something is and find he is unable to even read it off the menu?”
Grech’s suggestion that third-country nationals who work in financial services could be exempt from having to learn basic Maltese is the first time the PN has suggested potential exceptions since launching this proposal in its recent “vision of excellence for Malta”.
In an interview with Lovin Malta, Grech said the proposal forms part of the PN’s drive to attract “quality” to Malta.
Do you agree with the PN’s proposal?
READ NEXT: Beloved Photographer Zvezdan Reljić Passes Away At 62
