How does Malta see foreigners?

Can't give opinion about Malta, but in Gozo generally feel very welcomed.

Hi expatmalta12. Your question on how does malta see foreigners. Do you mean how do the maltese see foreigners?

Falcon, I presume he means that, as with Malta being a Country and not being able to have physical feelings then you would have to assume that he means the people of the country.  It would, I assume, be the same as asking the question with Australia instead of Malta, and just to confirm he has actually clarified his question in the actual body of the post.

Back to topic.

I feel very welcome in Malta, and have done since I have been living here as an Expat. The people that I have met, and I have been coming to Malta as a tourist since 1979, have always been very accomodating and extremely helpful.  This apart there does seem to be as stated in previous posts, a very large divide between how people are in the North and South.

I have seen and been treated in the North as a Tourist, charged more, pushed out of the way etc. A good example is just the Price of a Beer in St J. €3 - €3.5 and in Birzebbuga €1.8 - €2 a rather large uplift there.

In whole the country is a decent place to live and work, it has its problems but nothing like UK.  Enjoy the life.. its what ever you make it not anyone else.

Julian

Well the moral to that story scubaboy. Is simple dont drink

or live in the South or Gozo

Well that happens everywhere scooby. You can buy a beer in a beer at one end of town here and it would cost you a whole lot more at the other end of town. It all depends on socio economics of that particular area.
Also depends on how many tourists visit that area as well. Why shouldn't the locals make more money out of tourists. It happens everywhere around the world. The thing is if people are aware of it they don't frequent there, they go where they can afford. If your a first time visitor, you learn from the first time and either suck it up or move on 😉

Hey groto its not scooby, its scubaboy

Dont you remember how upset you got when georgeingozo called you grotty

Sorry Sooby

Oops subaBOY

falcon5 wrote:

Dont you remember how upset you got when georgeingozo called you grotty

Well no I didn't get upset. I couldn't have cared less. But perhaps scoobaboy should have a chat with his buddy and correct him for sending up someone else's name. I seem to recall he wasn't to worried about that and thought it was funny. He should lighten up, we don't actually go by these names, Or do we? If that is the case and your name is really scoobaboy, I humbly opologise

LOL....

Its great to see the humour on here today and i can see that you weer just posting to get your 100th post Grito.. Congrats.lol...

@Falcon.. true true .. Beer is the root of all evil...or is that money.. religion...war ... can't remember...

I think that its fine to make money out of the Tourists.. there is absolutley no problem with that at all, and I do agree that people do not have to frequent those area's.. you do however see again alot of comments on here about how people feel ripped off etc... but once you get to know the area and the right people in that area things get very very easy..

the only time I've not felt overly welcome was at a blogger meet up where everyone only spoke Maltese. In general day to day life I always feel very welcome, not like there is any bad feeling or divide between Maltese and expats

Hi iamharibo,

Do you find that the prices in Sliema are as I mentioned i.e. the costs are more, or have you found any places that you can get the products cheaper.??

Julian

[moderated]

lol!!!! why did the admin delete my comment!!!!!

lol... to be honest Designs I have no Idea.

Would you like to post your comment again... i think that they may have just got it mixed up with other comments

J.

it's ok Julian i thought may be i wrote something wrong!loool
but i remember that i wrote sweet words

All off topic messages, and sub discussions were moved to a private forum - for admins only.

Can you possibly clean up the other non related on the same thread please Julien..

[moderated]

"Can't give opinion about Malta, but in Gozo generally feel very welcomed."

"I feel very welcome in Malta, and have done since I have been living here as an Expat. The people that I have met, and I have been coming to Malta as a tourist since 1979, have always been very accomodating and extremely helpful.  This apart there does seem to be as stated in previous posts, a very large divide between how people are in the North and South."

"the only time I've not felt overly welcome was at a blogger meet up where everyone only spoke Maltese. In general day to day life I always feel very welcome, not like there is any bad feeling or divide between Maltese and expats "

All these are the comments that you are looking for and I ask Admin to clean up the rest as they are not relevant to what you are asking ... the question being how do we feel as Expat living in Malta... hence all the other comments are not needed

lol Julian!
i wrote: i feel welcome and maltese very friendly with me specially when they know i'm from Libya many maltese been to libya and the tow countries have history... also any when kind and friendly to ppl in any place in the world he'll be welcome

i think this what i wrote and it's related to the topic!

It's funny I'm reading this thread while having lunch with my coworkers, who are speaking Maltese, actively discussing something and laughing and completely ignoring me being there. When I say something in English, they would respond out of politeness and switch back to Maltese right away. So I entertain myself reading Expat.com instead about how welcome foreigners feel in Malta. They are sweet people otherwise, but language barrier is a lot more of an issue than I expected when making my decision to move here. I just don't feel my usual self. Hope this is relevant to the subject and doesn't get deleted.

I feel out of place a lot of the time, including in my own home when the Maltese just talk away to each other it's as if you aren't there.

I'm sure if we made the effort to learn Maltese we would be more included in these conversations.

I have always been made to feel welcome here - however we found it an advantage to learn a little of the language even if its just the basics, even when the local nationals respond to us in english....it does show we are trying to integrate as best we can ...even if we learned one or two words per day and thats not a lot.... some of it is actually fun especially if you get the word slightly wrong and they see the funny side of it and will often correct you politely. We did school for a year (just to get an edge.lol) so know a bit of the language but we learned more from malti friends and neighbours than at school..so a good mix n match is beneficial in my opinion.

However I will say that we have come across the situations (gladly not many)where locals speak their own language when in "mixed national" company, and do admit to thinking it was a little rude. I dont think our hosts mean to be impolite but it is sometimes easier in their own tongue. Now dont get me wrong we are guests here and it is their language and there is nothing wrong in speaking your own tongue for sure. I do agree that we English speakers tend to be lazy in terms of learning a language, and that is in part due to english being almost universal but cetainly international but that shouldnt be an excuse not to learn something.

I actually came across a woman some years ago working in an english bar here when two local nationals were speaking in malti and she was mortified, in fact found it disgusting that they werent speaking in english..to which i responded "well learn the language then ans stop being so damned nosy"

anyway we love it here warts and all....

why is it so many peoples banned? i am not feeling good as expat in malta...so much hate for foreigners here...they take your moneys and that's all they want...

?? clean up? 

scubaboy wrote:

Can you possibly clean up the other non related on the same thread please Julien..

For sure it's important to learn the language. It's just interesting that when I was doing my research about this country, I found a lot of comments saying that since English is a national language, you won't experience any problems at all. In reality it is the opposite. Not only in social life, but also looking for employment, as many jobs require fluent knowledge of Maltese and English. It was also quite interesting for me to hear two Maltese in my office making fun of their foreign colleague who tried to learn Maltese and attempted to speak to them from time to time. They treated it as a joke. Not very motivational, especially if you are trying to integrate.

I understand what you are Saying Irina, but I do have to say that my colleagues have done nothing but help me when I have been trying to learn the language, they have laughed at my pronounciation but I laugh with them....

It is such a difficult language to learn and the Maltese themselves have problems with the spelling and how to use what verbs and nouns... that will really tell you something about the language.

may i ask what type of work you are in ?? its just interesting as I have found in my line of work there is no problem, but when you look at Administration and office work they sometimes require Maltese and English, Obviously working in shops then they would require Maltese as well..

Just wondered how you felt though apart from the barrier of Language, do you think that its because of where you are based in Malta..

Its funny that Malta is So small yet so large when it comes to how people feel about the country.

This is however a great thread and will certainly be a great help for newbies coming to the forum here.

Keep it going... Toon, totally agree with you by the way...

Stuart (The_Viper), do you think that by trying to learn some of the language will help you in how you interact with your freinds and Family ??

i think it does come down to where you are located - but cant say i have noticed a massive divide between north and south except maybe prices - but having said that i havent spent a lot of time in the south-maybe i should!!!!) but in our experiences once you are known and it took us a little while to "get noticed" by the locals but now that we are it is fine and some appreciate our trying to learn and some dont-hey ho mixed bag really, but then it would be boring if everyone was the same.

We love living in Mellieha. Many local nationals out side this village see the village as being a bit "toffee nosed" to use a british term but i dont find it that way at all. It is thought to be a "posh" place to live too, again i dont think so, yes there are wealthy people here as well as the not so wealthy and dare i say it poorer people too.

we do use the band clubs and the local labour club where most malti go to socialise, so we get a good mix and to be honest its the only way to get to know whats going on in the village and if you need work done to get get to know who the local well thought of tradesmen are.

Maltese is a very difficult language to learn as its all based on context and then further complicated by areas based dialects spelling and male and female..... and one we are unlikely ever to master but we do enjoy trying. I actually think the malti are a very lucky nation in that most can speak (through exposure) 2-3 languages maltese, english and italian. i havent even mastered english after 50 odd years LOL...but then thats typical of a thick northern bloke LOL (sshhhhh scoobs)

... (giggles)...

"We love living in Mellieha. Many local nationals out side this village see the village as being a bit "toffee nosed" to use a british term"

hardly what the judge suggested in the attempted murder case last week - he considered Mellieha to be redneck country, full of bigots !

Well Toon does live there

yes he did GNG but then he supported his views and decision on sentence by letting the man off after attempted murder - hardly a man to be trusted in his opinions

anyhows y-all yall have a gud day - am got some buffalo chips to fry....anyone got a purdy lil marth

got to go now got a banjo lesson

not just attempted murder but premeditated attempted murder

disgraceful judgement - and further a slur on every person resident in mellieha - the judge should be struck off and the guy who was tried jailed.