Why I Quit Maltese After Six Months of Struggle
Choosing the wrong language can be a big mistake
Bongu!
When my family and I moved to Malta in 2018, I was really excited about learning to speak Maltese, the national language.
At that time, I wasn’t writing about language learning yet (the opportunity to start a language learning blog came in 2023), but I had already mastered Italian, German, English, Russian, and Ukrainian, and I also spoke some French from my school days.
I thought learning Maltese while living in Malta would be a breeze — but I was wrong. Very wrong…
Today, I have a confession to make about why Maltese turned out to be a major misstep for me. It wasn’t easy to admit that I couldn’t master the language — it was just too tough a nut to crack. So, I shifted my focus to Turkish instead. I was also already familiar with Turkish from my university days in Frankfurt.
And here is my story.
Foreword
Before I get into how I started learning Maltese — and eventually gave up — let’s quickly explore what makes this language both fascinating and challenging. Maltese is a unique version of Arabic that has developed into its own written form, used in Maltese literature and spoken in local dialects across the Maltese islands. About 40% of the words in Maltese come from Arabic, another 40% from Italian, and the remaining 20% from English.
The structure of Maltese is simpler than other Arabic dialects, as many complex grammar rules have disappeared. What makes Maltese interesting is how it mixes Arabic and Italian — for instance, Italian suffixes are added to Arabic roots, and Italian words are adjusted to fit Arabic grammar rules.
It even has two names for itself:
- l-ilsien Malti (from Arabic lisān, meaning “language”) and
- il-lingwa Maltija (from Italian lingua, also “language”).
Over the centuries, Maltese has changed through contact with European languages, losing some of its unique Arabic sounds and gaining more common European ones.
However, the grammar has stayed Arabic, which means that borrowed words have to follow Arabic grammar rules. For example, when forming plurals in Maltese, the vowels inside the word change, just like in Arabic:
- xkaffa (“shelf”) turns into xkafef,
- beritta (“cap”) becomes brieret,
- kamra (“room”) morphs into kmamar,
- ċumnija (“chimney”) becomes ċmieni.
Now you can imagine the language puzzle I was trying to piece together!
How I Began Learning Maltese
It was an exciting time when we moved from London to Malta. The opportunity to learn a new language while living among the locals is my proverbial sweet tooth.
I love learning by using immersive methods. It’s how I learned to speak German so well — by living in Germany. (You can also check out my story: “Why I Regret Trying to Learn German in Just 6 Months”).
Technology has also advanced quite a bit since I studied cultures and languages at university, and I tried out some online language learning platforms like sprachenlernen24 (German provider) and Bluebird.
I also found some Facebook bloggers to follow and listened to the local radio and talk shows to help me pick up more of the local lingo.
I hoped that, by learning Maltese, I would be able to understand the locals better and integrate better, too.
At that point, we had plans to stay in Malta for a significant time, and I wanted to be able to help my children pick up Maltese in school.
I’m also a culture buff, and I love learning a language to better understand the local culture, which is also one of the main reasons why I wanted to learn Maltese.
Why Learning Maltese Was So Difficult For Me
I found that there were several challenges to learning Maltese that I hadn’t anticipated.
I had mastered various grammar systems and pronunciations in the other languages that I speak, so I believed I would adapt to Maltese fairly easily — but it wasn’t to be.
Grammar and Syntax
To my shock, Maltese grammar rules aren’t as “logical” as some of the other languages I’ve learned. The rules are complex and quite difficult to understand.
I later discovered that Maltese grammar includes Romance and English verbs, but it uses Semitic suffixes and prefixes, which makes for quite an interesting mouthful to remember.
Pronunciation Difficulties
What makes the articulation of Maltese difficult is that it has sounds that don’t exist in any other language.
It’s a combination of three different language families — Romance, English, and Semitic — which together, make new and unusual sounds.
Lack of Appeal in the Language
For language learning to be successful, you have to want to learn it.
I soon discovered that my reasons for learning Maltese were not as strong as I had believed. I found that the locals all spoke English quite fluently, and they preferred to speak in English to foreigners rather than try to help you right when you garbled their native tongue.
As I heard more Maltese spoken aloud and in person, I also discovered that the marriage of the three languages that formed Maltese wasn’t as kind to the ear as I had hoped.
I’m not saying that Maltese is an ugly language, but it’s not nearly as stimulating as I would like a target language to be when I am investing hours into learning it.
Take Italian, for example — its melody makes my heart skip a beat. I can listen to Tiziano Ferro’s songs on repeat and binge-watch Italian shows and movies all night without getting bored.
Italian will always captivate me.
But Maltese?
After just 30 minutes of listening, the sound was enough to give me a headache.
Quite soon, my motivation for learning Maltese faded…
Methods I Tried
I love to use an immersive learning method, where I learn by using various resources like podcasts, radio, music, books, apps, TV shows, and in-person discussions.
Sadly, this approach didn’t work with Maltese for several reasons.
Language Learning Apps
The language learning apps I used, Bluebird, Preply (a few lessons with a tutor), and Sprachenlernen24.de, were not advanced enough to the level that they could explain complex grammar rules and conventions.
This made understanding Maltese better a challenge.
Overall, these apps were not effective for anything beyond very basic Maltese.
Listening Practice
When I use immersive learning techniques, I rely a lot on auditory lessons. I remember what I hear, which is why I love to listen to radio shows and podcasts in the languages I am learning.
(The song Naħseb Fik by Aidan was a huge hit in Malta, and I’ve listened to it over 20 times.)
With technology, I can slow down audio recordings to help me listen to the pronunciation, but Maltese is a fast-spoken language with sounds that are so foreign I can’t imagine how to form them.
There are also fewer options for Maltese audio to listen to as most of the Maltese population speak and listen to English.
Why I Decided to Quit Learning Maltese
I don’t like quitting, but I realized that Maltese wasn’t going to be a language that I would ever speak with any great fluency.
My reasons for quitting Maltese after six months of trying to master it were quite practical.
Loss of Motivation
Despite living among Maltese locals, few of them spoke Maltese daily, so I couldn’t really find any use or reason to practice the Maltese I had learned.
It’s like having a new bicycle but not having anywhere to cycle except in your home, so I felt: “What’s the point?”
With no real reason to then speak Maltese or learn more about it, I lost the motivation to learn such a complex language.
Practicality Issues
The final reason why I quit my learning of Maltese was that it was no longer practical to my daily life. Everyone in Malta speaks English since it’s the second official language.
Maltese is spoken by only a small number of people, and outside of Malta, hardly anyone is familiar with it. For those who enjoy challenging languages and treat language learning as a mental workout, Maltese is a good choice.
However, from a practical perspective, Maltese doesn’t offer much benefit for business, blogging (as in my case), or travel. In that sense, it’s probably more useful to learn Arabic instead.
That’s when I made the decision to brush up on my Turkish (which seemed far more practical), especially as I began my language learning blog in August 2023.
Read more:
- 8 Benefits Why You Should Learn a Second Language
- Speak the World: Expert Advice for Polyglot Success
Final Maltese-Learning Truths
I didn’t enjoy speaking Maltese, but I value any learning experience. And I learned a few things from my time and exposure to the Maltese language.
Any language can be difficult, so it’s important that you think about your reasons for learning that language. My motivation to learn Maltese wasn’t practical or strong enough, which is why I started finding reasons not to learn and, ultimately, quit learning.
When you use immersive learning, it’s important that the target language is widely spoken, that there are enough resources, and that you can really sink your teeth into the language through exposure to it.
So, before you start learning a language like Maltese, it’s important that you think about the “why” of learning that language.
Then, consider the “how” of your learning, and lastly, plan your language journey and see if it fits practically into your life.
Thank you for reading!
