Maltese
Malti
Maltese is the only Semitic language written in the Latin alphabet, and the only Semitic official language of the European Union. It descends from the Arabic established on the island, then took on heavy borrowing from Sicilian and Italian, and more recently from English. The result is Arabic grammar dressed in a vocabulary half Romance in origin, a unique case in Europe.
- Family
- Semitic
- Script
- Latin
- Speakers
- ≈ 500,000
- Where
- Malta
- In the game
- Rare language
How to spot it
The only Semitic language written in the Latin alphabet: ħ, ġ, ż, ċ and the article “il- / iċ-” stuck in front of nouns.
A few sentences
-
Kuljum nimxi sal-baħar.
Every day I walk down to the sea.
-
Illejla se mmorru nieklu barra.
Tonight we are eating out.
-
Insejt inħallas il-kont.
I forgot to pay the bill.
-
Illum il-baħar huwa kalm.
The sea is calm today.
-
Għandi aptit kafè.
I fancy a coffee.