Wednesday 3 August 2016

The Maltese language

Today I have received a letter from the MCAST institute with the score of the final assessment exam.
During the past four months I have attended the Maltese for Foreigners Level 1 course that was focused on the very basic of the grammar and the understanding of short text and speaking.

In general, learning a new language is a difficult task that requires a good effort especially at the beginning.
Considering that I am trying to improve my English at the same moment, learning Maltese is even more difficult for me considering the small amount of time I can dedicate to it.
Many teachers suggest the best way to learn a language is immerse yourself into it: I am listening radio (in Malta there are a few of very good stations), watching TV (even though, in general, I am not used to) and put some effort in trying to translate what native speakers say.

While waiting for the starting date of the next course of Maltese language (yes, I have passed the exam with a quite good score ), I have decided to revisit what I have learned writing a series of post in this blog.

The alphabet


Maltese alphabet is composed of 30 letters:

A B Ċ D E F Ġ G GĦ H Ħ I IE J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Ż Z
a b ċ d e f ġ g għ h ħ i ie j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x ż z

Maltese language is very phonetic and, with some very minor exceptions, letters are pronounced always in the same manner.

The author of this video spells the alphabet:



I have to say that for an Italian native the most difficult letters are "q", a guttural sound, and "ħ" the "sounding h" somewhat similar to the English one that we find so difficult to pronounce correctly.
On the other hand, even though not very difficult to pronounce, I find very difficult to distinguish ż from z when native people speak.
Għ is a particular case: it does not have sound per-se, but prolongs the vowel that precedes it. This is what the official rule says.
Unfortunately, native speakers pronounce it in several fashion because of dialects.

Example:


tiegħi (= mine/my) is pronounced "tiAi", "tiEi" or "tii-i" depending of the village of origin of the speaker.

There are a few other exceptions, but in general reading Maltese language consists in connecting the sounds of the alphabet letters.

 

Example (from Ager, Simon. "Omniglot - writing systems and languages of the world" www.omniglot.com):

Maltese
Il-bnedmin kollha jitwieldu ħielsa u ugwali fid-dinjità u d-drittijiet. Huma mogħnija bir-raġuni u bil-kuxjenza u għandhom igibu ruħhom ma' xulxin bi spirtu ta' aħwa. 

English
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)