Maltese
RegionMalta
FamilyAfro-Asiatic (Semitic)
Speakers520,000 speakers
ScriptLatin
TypeAlphabetic
About Maltese
The only Semitic language official in the EU. Grew from the Arabic once spoken on Sicily. Its grammar and core words are Semitic while much vocabulary is Italian and Sicilian. Spoken by nearly everyone on the islands. A bridge of Europe and the Arab world in one tongue.
Related Languages
Modern Standard Arabic
The liturgical language of Islam. Written right-to-left. The root system uses 3 consonants to genera...
Hebrew
The only successfully revived dead language. Was not spoken natively for 1,700 years until Eliezer B...
Amharic
The official language of Ethiopia. Uses the Ge'ez script with 231 characters representing consonant-...
Tigrinya
The main language of Eritrea and the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Written in the ancient Ethiopic scri...