Maltese is a unique language that originated from Medieval Arabic. It then evolved independently while being heavily influenced by Italian, French, and English. It is the only official language of the European Union that belongs to the Semitic language family.
The Maltese language originated in the Emirate of Sicily, but the expulsion of Muslims and the Norman conquest isolated Maltese from other Arabic languages. As a result, Maltese uses the Latin script despite its Siculo-Arabic origin. Roughly one-third of Maltese vocabulary is based on Arabic, while the remainder has been influenced by Italian, Sicilian, and English.
The first recorded mention of the Maltese language came in a will dated 1436. The oldest known document in the language is “Il-Kantilena” from the 15th century. The first Maltese language dictionary was the “Maltese-Italiano” which was published in the 16th century but has since been lost.
The language itself has six dialects: Gozo, Port Maltese, Rural Central Maltese, Rural East Maltese, Rural West Maltese, and Zurriq. It was standardized in the late 18th century, and, in 1934, the language became the official language of Malta.
It takes about 50 hours to learn Maltese as an English speaker.
As a unique language with a Semitic background, Maltese could be challenging for native English speakers. You can, however, quickly learn words and phrases such as “I love you” and “welcome” in the Maltese language. If you need content writing in Maltese, you might need a professional to help you out!
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Maltese has 6 unique letters, and each is pronounced differently. These are Ċ, Ġ, GĦ, Ħ, IE, and Ż.
The oldest known document in Maltese is “Il Kantilena,” a poem from the 15th century. It was written in Medieval Maltese by the Notary Pietru Caxaro. Interestingly, the document was first discovered in 1966.
Some aspects of Maltese grammar exhibit two patterns: a Semitic and a Romance pattern.
Maltese originated from an Arabic dialect that closely resembles the Western Arabic dialects of Algeria and Tunisia. In the Middle Ages, it split from Arabic and developed different letters and syntax.
Maltese began as an Arabic dialect spoken in the Siculo-Arabic Emirate. However, Italian also significantly influenced the evolution of Maltese. Like Italian, it uses the Latin alphabet.
For speakers of Western languages, the Arabic origins and complex grammar of Maltese account for its difficulty level. However, although it is not the easiest language to learn, mastering it can be rewarding.
Despite its complexity, three hours of learning Maltese could be sufficient for acquiring the basics to engage in simple conversation. Overall, you will need around 50 hours of learning to reach basic proficiency.
Maltese is the only Semitic language that is written in the Latin alphabet. It evolved from Arabic and is heavily influenced by Italian and Sicilian.