Una ‘piccola’ lingua alle prese con la grande Europa : un decennio di traduzione maltese (2003-2013)

Abstract

In these last ten years, Maltese translation has experienced an exponential development. This was mainly due to Malta’s membership in the European Union in 2004. The inclusion of Maltese among the EU’s official languages highlighted three main problems that required urgent attention, namely terminological inadequacy, the lack of generally-accepted orthographical rules and the acute shortage of professional translators. After giving a brief historical background of the Maltese linguistic situation, this paper discusses the challenges faced by Maltese language planners and translators in the decade spanning from the eve of EU accession to the present day, focusing mainly on the measures taken to bring the Maltese language at par with the other official languages of the EU. The paper also discusses briefly the state of literary translation and its problems.