Learning the Maltese Language
The Maltese language is the national language of the island of Malta, and according to the Maltese Constitution, is the co-official language of the country alongside the English language. Maltese serves as an official language of the European Union, the only Semitic language so distinguished.
According to MED Magazine (2005), Maltese is descended from Siculo-Arabic. This Arabic dialect developed in Malta, Sicily and the rest of Southern Italy sometime between the ninth and the fourteenth centuries.
AMED Magazine (2005) reports that approximately half of the vocabulary is borrowed from Italian and Sicilian,and according to the BBC Education, English words make up as much as 20% of the Maltese vocabulary. It is the only Semitic language written in the Latin alphabet in its standard form.
Our Squidoo lens includes a number of learning Maltese resources, recommended learning tools, videos, rss feeds, and more. So if you are interested in learning Maltese.
