Malta Languages

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Malta

Languages

Description

Maltese — the most common language for daily conversation — resulted from the interaction and fusion of North African Arabic and a Sicilian form of Italian. It is the only Semitic language written in the Latin alphabet. It became an official language of Malta in 1934. English is the other official language and is used for all instruction. Italian was the language of church and government until 1934, and consequently, is still spoken by a sizable portion of the islands’ population.

Records are written in Latin, Maltese, Italian, and English.

Word List(s)

For word lists and help researching in Maltese records, see:

• Latin Genealogical Word List
• Italian Genealogical Word List

Alphabet and Pronunciation

Alphabet

Letter	A a	B b	Ċ ċ	D d	E e	F f	Ġ ġ	G g	GĦ għ	H h	Ħ ħ	I i	IE ie	J j	K k
Pronunciation (IPA)	ɐ	b	t͡ʃ	d	ɛ	f	d͡ʒ	ɡ	ˤː, ħː		ħ	ɪ	iɛ, iː	j	k

Letter	L l	M m	N n	O o	P p	Q q	R r	S s	T t	U u	V v	W w	X x	Z z	Ż ż
Pronunciation (IPA)	l	m	n	ɔ	p	ʔ	r	s	t	ʊ	v	w	ʃ / ʒt͡s	t͡s / d͡z	z

Language Aids and Dictionaries

Lessons in the Maltese Language:

• Omniglot