Il-Lingwa Maltija

Hi Y'all,

if you think that's Greek to you, you're wrong! It means Maltesian language in Maltesian language, and I thought I could talk a bit about it. Not that I am an expert by any means, but a few fun facts I surely can add into the mix. Might be a bit on the theoretical side, but someone's gotta do it! 

He takes treats presented in any language!

It all started when Facebook showed me an ad by Community College Winnenden offering an online course in Maltese for Germans live from Malta directly (no time lag). I always have liked community college language trainings, and so I enrolled and was very happy that it actually was happening (sometimes when there are not enough participants, they cancel courses). And now, every Monday evening, I sit in front of my computer while the Maltese language teacher gives us a basic understanding of speaking Maltese (in English, of course 😅). Distance between him and me is a few Kilometers, only - he is located in Gozo while I am in Mellieħa, and everything is organized via Germany, where the rest of the participants are based. So that's finally one good thing about COVID, I guess... Of course, it isn't the goal to have deep discussions about philosophy, quantum physics or things like that, but out of respect for country and inhabitants I wanted to have some basic knowledge of one of the official languages.  

I already explained a bit of the background but for completeness reasons here a few more facts: Maltese is the only semitic language which is written in Roman and moreover it is the only semitic language which is an official language in the EU. Due to its history and geological position Maltese is influenced by several languages, mostly Italian, Arabic and English. 

Unlike the English alfabet, "L'Alfabett Malti" doesn't consist of 26 letters, but of 30 letters in total - 6 vowels and 24 consonants. 

Regarding the vowels, there is an additional ie (two letters, but counts as one vowel) - thus we have

a, e, i, ie, o and u

And these are the consonants:

b, ċ, d, f, ġ, g, għ, h, ħ, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, ż, z

Here, too, the għ counts as one consonant, although it consists of two letters. It's a bit tricky, because you don't pronounce it directly, but it prolongs the vowel which follows after. 

And how do you pronounce that in general?

a is pronunced as in (people) are (people)

b is pronounced as in blasphemous (rumours)

ċ is pronounced as in Fletch

d is pronounced as in Depeche Mode

e is pronounced as in everything (counts) 

f is pronounced as in (songs of) faith (and devotion)  

ġ is pronounced as in just (can't get enough)

g is pronounced as in get (the balance right)

għ is silent (it prolongs the vowel)

h is silent as in heir (sorry, I found nothing fitting)

ħ is pronounced as in halo

i is pronounced as the y in policy (of truth) or the e in (personal) Jesus

ie is pronounced as in (nothing to) fear 

j has the consonantal value of the English y in (I feel) you

k is pronounced like in construction (time again)

l is pronounced like in lilian

m is pronounced like in master (and servant)

n is pronounced like in never (let me down again) 

o is pronounced like in condemnation

p is pronounced like in parsley

s is pronounced like in sage

r is pronounced like in rosemary 

t is pronounced like in time (thyme won't work here, sorry)

q i has no corresponding guttural sound in English; it indicates a glottal stop - like when you say "I ate"; the glottal stop happens between "I" and "ate

u is pronounced as in (it's no) good

w is pronounced like in words (are)

v is pronounced like in very (unnecessary)

x is pronounced as sh like in (walking in my) shoes or in shake (the disease)

z is pronounced as ds or ts like in (love in) itself

ż is pronounced as the z in jezebel

If you paid attention you might have noticed that I like Depeche Mode and that there is no y in Maltese (and nobody is missing it, to be honest). And something else you won't find: The combination of two vowels following each other (except with "ie", but as mentioned before, that counts as one). Sometimes you pronounce them, but you don't write them down. An example: "Il-lejla t-tajba" - which means "Good evening" and when spoken, it sounds  il-lejla it-tajba. Because the evening (Leila) is feminine in Maltese, it ends on "a", you have to omit the "i" in "it", as there are no two vowels allowed one after another. Sounds funny, but we have to accept this, I suppose. 

By the way, I found a Spanish word which made its way into Maltese: "pero" which means "but". As one or the other pirate once visited Malta, such things may happen... Oh, and when counting I detected a similarity with German, because in double digits Germans tend to mention the singles before the tens, for example "zweiundfünfzig" instead of "fifty-two". Maltese count similar, as fifty-two is "tnejn u hamsin", where "tnejn" means "two" and "hamsin" is "fifty". We did not yet talk about three digit numbers, though 😆. 

You might have guessed that "u" means "and". We know that from Italian, where you only need one vowel for "and", and that is "e", and in Spanish "and" means just "y". U c,  the "u" is in good European company. 

A Maltese friend told me lately that their language adopted a lot of words from other languages, but they made it Maltese by using their Maltese way of writing it. Here are a few examples:  

"Bonġu" and "bonswa" - You might sense, that this is about saying "good morning" and "good evening" and that they clearly have French roots. Rather informal and independent from the time of day you can always say "ħelow" - exactly,its' origin is the English "hello". And if you want to part and leave, the most simple thing you could use is "ċaw". What could that be? Sure the Italian  "ciao"! "Grazzi" means "thank you" and can't hide its' Italian background. The"furnar" is the baker; and when you order something "al forno" in the pizzeria, you know that this dish was baked in the oven. Therefore, the "furnar" as the guy handling the oven makes perfectly sense. 

Here some vocabulary which might make you smile:

ċips: 

these nasty fried potato sticks

ċikkulata: 

one second on the lips, a lifetime on the hips...

kejk: 

perfect for your afternoon tea (and the lips and hips thing, too)

wejter:     

in a restaurant he serves the kejk or the ċips 

xawer:     

refreshing and cleansing

ġelat:     

frozen balls in a cone (oh boy that sounds weird...)

ġakketta, gwardarobba:     

the former you can wear or put in the latter, if you don't need it 

garaxx, karozza:     

if I own the first thing, the second thing doesn't have to stay out in the rain 

larinġ:     

sunny coloured citrus fruit

sejf:     

for my precioussssss or my treasures

trakk:     

a very large karozza, which doesn't fit in a normal garage

And I bet you know how to pronounce this one here: "ħaxix"... Means veggies or grass...😆

And last but not least something difficult: "Is-sliem għalikom". Which means "peace be with you" - and know you might guess its origin, which is the Arabic "Salaam aleikum". You will here it rather seldomly, but I found it highly fascinating!

With that said: Is-sliem għalikom, Y'all!

And if you're in the mood for some electronic music now, thank me later...  😆