As you may already know, the Maltese language is a hodge-podge of different languages which have come together to create a unique hybrid language with its own particular vocabulary, rhythms, grammatical structures and sounds. Because of the incredible influences that it has from languages such as French, Italian, English and Arabic in particular, the language has evolved to include and excludes some of the sounds found in these languages.
In this article, we’ll be discussing some of the more particular and tricky sound that you might encounter in Maltese, but first, let’s have a look at the sounds that the Maltese language has through this chart which outlines Maltese’s consonantal sounds through the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA):
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The famous Question Mark - The Glottal Voiced Plosive
One of the first language questions that the Maltese love to tease foreigners with is asking them to pronounce the word “dqiq” meaning “flour” in English. This word is particularly difficult for most foreigners to pronounce because of the “q” in the word, a letter which Maltese inherited from Arabic. If you don’t have this sound in your language, it’s particularly difficult to pronounce. A great way to practice this sound is to look at yourself pronouncing it in different words in the mirror, observing the way your mouth and throat move. Over time with the more you practice, you should be able to practice it in no time!
Je M’Appelle…Wait?! This isn’t French!
Like Arabic and French Maltese has the postalveolar unvoiced fricative which is found in words like “ġbin” which Maltese people often misspell as “xbin”. This sound is typically familiar to people because of the French language which has been spoken by different nationalities for centuries, but it can still be tricky to pronounce. This sound is rather rare in Maltese, but is still used in words on a day-to-day basis.
What the /h/ is this?
The fricative glottal stop /h/. For languages of latin descent such as French or Italian, pronouncing this sound can be somewhat hard. It’s found in words like “sabiħ” (beautiful in the masculine conjugation) or “ħalliel” (robber in the masculine conjugation). The sound is usually pronounced when there is the letter ‘ħ’ in a word, but don’t get confused! When the letter ‘ħ’ is next to a ‘g’ as an ‘għ’, this is considered a letter in its own right in Maltese. This letter is not pronounced in Maltese. In certain cases, words like ‘ikrah’ where there is the letter ‘h’ at the end of the word pronounce the /h/.
And that’s that! Maltese can be tricky to pronounce, but generally speaking it’s plain sailing, especially when you practice it. If you’d like to practice your spoken Maltese, make sure to book you own language session with an OLS!
– Kris Polidano, OLS Community Manager