So I’m from Malta, lived here all my life, as a country we have two officially recognised National Language, one being our own Mother tongue, Maltese and the second being English.
Language used in school lessons is mixed, I’d say for about 60% of classes we would have used English and for the remaining 40% we used to speak in Maltese. Nowadays I believe an even larger percentage of classes are being held in English due to the increasing number of foreign children who do not understand Maltese.
When it comes to higher education (16 years and above) all lectures were held in English.
I guess by definition due to the fact that English is an official language here I am considered to be a native English speaker but I’m not exactly a pure English speaker. I generally use Maltese to speak with friends and relatives for example.
tl,dr: I’m from Malta, we have two officially languages here, one of them being English. Do you think employers will consider me as a native speaker of English? Forgot to mention, I also have an A-level in English and have a degree from Uni, unrelated to English
17 comments
Did you ever speak it outside of school?
There is a list of source countries recognized for English teachers for Japan somewhere, I’ve seen it.
No it has to be 100% english education or from an English speaking country from the list.
It depends on the company. For example, interac hires teachers from the Philippines. You might be dealing with lower pay and worse worker conditions but some dispatch companies would look past your Malta education.
If you want to teach, maybe not, but if you’re keen to try and get a coordinator of international relations (CIR) job, you should be fine. I’ve met CIRs from Norway, Austria and other countries where English isn’t even an official language.
Usually, the main preferences are based on these two factors:
1. Country of Citizenship listed on the passport. Countries can only accept people from certain places to for visa purposes.
2. How many years of formal English classes did you have growing up. Usually, these countries want to have people that received a formal education an all inclusive English speaking school environment (usually 10 or more years). In other words, everything needs to be taught in English for the stipulated amount of time.
This brings up the question, would someone who is from the US, but went through a bilingual education program from the time they started school, and speaks a language other than English at home qualify? My thought is, yes, they would, and I’m not sure how that situation is much different than yours.
To the best of my knowledge, most of the ALT companies recently changed their definition of Native English speaker to basically like
Anyone who has more than 12 years of formal Englsih education and/or EIKEN 1
I could be wrong, but there are some ALTs I have met from like Hungary/Finland/Romania
So I think you could be OK
Hi! English is our second language and had at least 12 years of education from primary to college using english. My company accepted these qualifications. Hope it helps.
Come on over to Saitama (it’s not uniquely special, but doesn’t get hung up on this as the deciding factor in your value.) Your nationality will not disqualify you from getting an instructor’s visa; if you pass the interviews you’re good to go. Join our instructors from Sri Lanka, Romania, Bulgaria, Philippines; etc.
I hope the word “native” is wholly and properly replaced by better terms.
Your native language is the primary language you used growing up. This would seem to be Maltese.
You also seem to lack the amount of schooling in English that most companies look for, as until you were 16, it wasn’t 100%.
Try anyhow, but don’t try to sell yourself as a native speaker, as they’ll ask questions about this. If you have English language certification, bring that up during the interview.
Why not? The US doesn’t have an official language. English is the de facto language of the country, not the official language.
If Americans can get jobs teaching in Japan, why can’t you?
As long as you are white, you are qualified.
No worries
The first language you spoke, your primary language with friends/family and society, and the language of half your education was Maltese.. however can this in anyway make you a native speaker, equivalent to a native speaking American or Englishman?
Sure, you can argue academically about the various definitions of ‘native speaker’ but in the context of teaching English, there’s a shared idea of what this is. Particularly in Japan, where it refers to natives of the Anglosphere. To present yourself as a native speaker, is just dishonest in my opinion. You’re a native Maltese speaker with fluent English.
Market yourself honestly: given the English presence in Malta, you are already ahead of most non-UK Europeans anyway.
Malta is considered an English speaking country so in regards to getting an Instructor visa you will not need documentation showing 12 years of education in English. As for companies asking, they typically won’t ask unless you’re from a non English speaking country. Since the official language is English you will be considered native.
Ok, I had to go to sleep and didn’t expect this many comments, so I’m gonna just post this reply as an answer to all of them.
No,I don’t speak English to my family and friends unless a person within the friend group only understands English. I hoped that due to the fact English is an official language, equal to Maltese, here we would be considered native speakers, although that is not exactly the case.
But here’s to hoping my applications for positions that require a native level of English won’t get shredded the moment my nationality comes up.
Oh yeah, I am white with dark blonde hair. It’s not really customary to add a picture to your CV here in Malta, but it seems I should attach a picture to the CVs I send for teaching positions in Japan
in terms of general perception, Malta would count as an English speaking country for most Japanese (not that many of them are particularly familiar with the place but I guess most of them would associate it with Europe, specifically outside of domain of languages other than English like French or German)