The Maltese Language

The official languages of Malta are Maltese and English. Maltese (Malti) is a unique language with many words borrowed from the languages of the various countries that once occupied Malta. The Maltese language is the only Semetic tongue officially written in the Latin alphabet. It is a modern Arabic vernacular closely related to the western Arabic dialects. In its phonetics, morphology, syntax and vocabulary it shows the strong influence of an earlier, later and continuing Sicilian (Latin) from of speech. There are 30 letters in the Maltese alphabet. The letter "y" is not part of the Maltese alphabet but the alphabet includes five special letters:

• a pronounced as o in come
• b pronounced be as in bell
• c hard c as in cat
• c pronounced ch as in cherry *
• d pronounced de as in devil
• e pronounced e as in fell
• f pronounced f as in fall
• g hard g as in gun
• g pronounced j as in jam *
• gh unsounded aspirated glottic
• h silent except at end of words when it is aspirated
• h aspirated h with a guttural sound like gh in "Ugh!" **
• i pronounced i as in till
• j pronounced ye as in yellow
• k pronounced ke as in kettle
• l pronounced l as in late
• m pronounced m as in male
• n pronounced n as in nose
• o pronounced o as in pot
• p pronounced pe as in pen
• q compared to the cockney sound of the final letter in the English word "that"
• r pronounced r as in rain
• s pronounced se as in set
• t pronounced te as in tell
• u pronounced u as in pull
• v pronounced ve as in vessel
• w pronounced we as in well
• x pronounced sh as in shepherd
• z pronounced ze as in zebra

z pronounced ts as in nuts *

* these letters are written with a period on top of the letter.
** this letter is written with a horizontal line running through the stem of the letter.

A sampling of the Maltese language follows:

Yes/Iva (as in diva)

No/Le (as in lethargy)

Thank you very much/Grazzi hafna (grats-tsii haff-na)

Good-bye or cheers/Sahha (sah-ha)

Merry Christmas/Il-Milied it-tajjeb

Happy New Year/Is-Sena t-tajba

Please/ Jekk joghgbok (yek-yooj-bok)

Good night/Il-lejl it-tajjeb (ill-layl it-ta-yep)

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