If you’re thinking about learning Maltese, you probably have one big question on your mind: Is Maltese hard to learn?

The short answer is: Maltese is moderately challenging, but it’s much easier than you might think.

Maltese is a truly unique language. It’s the only language in the world that has Arabic roots but is written in the Latin alphabet (the same ABCs we use in English). Because of Malta’s rich history, the language is a giant mixing pot of Arabic, Italian, Sicilian, French, and English.

Let’s break down exactly what makes Maltese hard, what makes it surprisingly easy, and what you can expect as an English speaker.

Why Maltese looks and sounds so unique

To understand if Maltese is hard, you first need to understand what it actually is.

Maltese is a Semitic language. This means it belongs to the same language family as Arabic and Hebrew. Its core grammar and its oldest words come from an old form of Arabic.

However, over the centuries, Malta was ruled by many different groups. Because of this, about half of the Maltese dictionary is made up of words borrowed from Italian and Sicilian. On top of that, there’s a massive amount of English mixed in.

You can see this amazing mix in a simple greeting:

In this sentence, bonġu comes from the French “bonjour” (or Italian “buongiorno”), while kif inti comes straight from Arabic!

The hard parts of learning Maltese

Let’s be realistic and start with the tricky stuff. Here’s what usually trips up English speakers when they first start learning Maltese.

Tricky sounds and letters

Even though Maltese uses the English alphabet, there are a few extra letters and sounds that will feel new to your mouth.

• The letter Q (Il-Qaf): In Maltese, the ‘q’ doesn’t sound like a “k” or “kw”. Instead, it’s a “glottal stop”. This is the little catch in your throat you make when you say “uh-oh”.
• The letter Għ (L-Għajn): This letter is usually totally silent. Its only job is to make the vowel next to it longer. It looks complicated, but you mostly just ignore it!
• The letter Ħ (Il-Ħa): This sounds like a very strong, breathy “h”. Imagine you’re trying to fog up a mirror with your breath.

Arabic-style grammar

Because Maltese is a Semitic language, verbs are built on a “root” system. Most core verbs are made of three consonants. When you want to change the tense (like past, present, or future), you don’t just add an ending like “-ed” or “-ing”. Instead, you change the vowels inside the word.

Broken plurals

In English, making a word plural is easy: just add an “s”. In Maltese, many words use “broken plurals”. This means the whole word changes its shape to become plural.

For example, the word for “book” is ktieb. The plural for books is kotba.

It takes some memorization, but the more you read and listen, the more natural these patterns will feel.

The easy parts for English speakers

Now for the good news! English speakers have several huge advantages when learning Maltese.

You already know the alphabet

Unlike other Semitic languages (like Arabic or Amharic), you don’t need to learn a new writing system. Maltese is written from left to right using the Latin alphabet. Once you learn the pronunciation rules, you can read Maltese out loud almost perfectly.

A massive amount of English loanwords

English is an official language in Malta alongside Maltese. Because of this, Maltese people borrow English words constantly. Sometimes they’re spelled the Maltese way, but they sound exactly the same.

Here’s a table showing just a few common English loanwords in Maltese:

The Italian connection

If you’ve ever studied Spanish, French, or Italian in school, you’ll instantly recognize thousands of Maltese words.

For example, the Maltese word for nature is natura. The word for school is skola. Because so much of the vocabulary comes from Romance languages, building your vocabulary is surprisingly fast.

Maltese regional variations and dialects

Malta is a very small country consisting mainly of two islands: Malta and Gozo. Despite being tiny, there are regional variations in how the language is spoken!

The most famous variation is Gozitan (Għawdxi).

People from the island of Gozo speak a dialect that sounds quite different from the standard Maltese spoken in the capital city of Valletta. Gozitans often use different vowel sounds. For example, a word that sounds like an “a” in Malta might sound more like an “o” or an “e” in Gozo. They also use older, more traditional Arabic-based words that mainland Maltese people have swapped out for English ones.

There are also rural dialects in the farming villages of Malta that sound thicker and heavier than the city dialects.

However, this won’t be an issue! Standard Maltese is taught in all schools, used on the news, and understood by 100% of the population. If you learn Standard Maltese, you’ll have absolutely no problem communicating with anyone in Malta or Gozo.

So, is Maltese actually hard?

Maltese isn’t the easiest language in the world, but it’s far from the hardest.

If we compare it to learning Japanese or Mandarin, Maltese is much easier because of the shared alphabet and the thousands of familiar words. If we compare it to learning Spanish, Maltese is a bit harder because the Arabic grammar takes some time to get used to.

If you’re an English speaker, you already have a massive head start. You just have to get used to the unique sounds and the verb roots.

By focusing on standard pronunciation and recognizing the common loanwords, you’ll be having basic conversations in Maltese much faster than you expect.