Currently, the national language of Malta is the Maltese, who, along with English is an official language. Currently, almost 100% of the Maltese people can speak the Maltese language, 88% can speak English, 66% of the Maltese can speak Italian, but 17%? in French. These data indicate that the internationalization of the population, since 1995, only 98% of the Maltese population spoke a Maltese language, 76%? English, 36%? in Italian, and 10%? in French. In addition to the Italian language, is the third language in the country, in Maltese schools, as well as foreign language study French, German and Spanish. Maltese is the national language of the Maltese people and one of the official languages of Malta and the European Union. This is a Semitic language, has its roots in the Arabic language. And grammar of the language can be traced these Arab roots.
Yet most of the vocabulary is borrowed from Sicily and Italy. Malta is very different from those of other European countries, being the only country in Europe has official language within the group of Semitic languages. At the heart of the Maltese language is a modified Latin alphabet, which includes the letter Z (also used in Polish), C, G, H, and Gh. 52 Maltese words Romanesque origin, as a result of significant influence in Italy (especially Sicily), and to a lesser extent, France. Some localities of Malta have their own dialects, but they are very similar to the standard Maltese.
But now for many years a decrease in the differences between dialects, mainly because of the impact of television and the standard of education, leading to the Maltese language. Until 1930 the Italian language was official language of Malta. Currently, the Italian language is spoken by many citizens of Malta, often with Italian roots. True trend is that the percentage of people who own the Italian language is increasing. Today 66% of the Maltese population can speak Italian, and 2% of the population 'prefers' to use it in everyday surroundings. Interesting fact. Sixty-six percent of the population who knows the Italian language, it is considerably more than the percentage of people who own the language, when he was an official. For example, in 1931, the Italian language could speak for only 14% of the population of Malta. An interesting fact is the fact that a large number of Maltese learn Italian as a foreign language with Italian television, mostly Mediaset and RAI, the transfer of which reach the Maltese islands. In addition, many companies located in Malta, are guided by Italian. Indeed, Malta can not produce a lot of things, and import them mainly from Italy. Since the Maltese language has borrowed 52% of Italian words, it means that many words in Italian and in Malta almost interchangeable. Consequently, the Italian all the time present in the everyday speech of the Maltese. Possible scenarios for the future of the Maltese language is the subject of debate among scholars. Dialectal differences Maltese language is in decline. Another trend is the influence of English and Italian languages of the Maltese language.