Languages of Malta

Languages of Malta[1]
Maltese language signs in Ħal Luqa
OfficialMaltese and English
NationalMaltese[2]
RecognisedItalian (62-66% conversational), Arabic, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Serbian
SignedMaltese Sign Language
Keyboard layout
Tri-lingual voting document for the later cancelled 1930 elections in Malta in English, Italian and Maltese

Malta has two official languages: Maltese and English. Maltese is the national language. Until 1934, Italian was also an official language in Malta, and in the 19th and 20th centuries there was a linguistic and political debate known as the Language Question about the roles of these three languages. The Maltese population is generally able to converse in languages which are not native to the country, particularly English and Italian. They can also somewhat understand Darija.

In 2022, Malta National Statistics Office states that 90 percent of the Maltese population has at least a basic knowledge of Maltese. Also, 96 percent of the population has at least a basic knowledge of English, 62 percent of Italian, and 20 percent of French. According to the Eurobarometer poll conducted in 2012, 98% of Maltese people can speak Maltese, 88% can speak English, 66% can speak Italian, and more than 17% speak French.[1] This shows a recent increase in fluency in languages, since in 1995, while 98% of the population spoke Maltese, only 76% spoke English, 36% Italian, and 10% French. It shows an increase in Italian fluency, compared to when Italian was an official language of Malta, due to Italian television broadcasts reaching Malta.[3]

According to the 2011 census, there were 377,952 people aged 10 and over, of whom 357,692 people (94.7%) declared that they spoke Maltese at least at an average level, 248,570 (82.1%) that they spoke English at least at an average level and 93,401 (43.7%) that they spoke Italian at least at an average level, out of a scale made of "Well", "Average", "A little" and "Not at all".[4] French, Russian, Spanish, and German are the other main languages studied in secondary and tertiary education.[5]

  1. ^ a b European Commission (June 2012). Special Eurobarometer 386: Europeans and Their Languages (PDF) (Report). Eurobarometer Special Surveys. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 January 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  2. ^ "Constitution of Malta". Leġiżlazzjoni Malta. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  3. ^ Country profile: Malta BBC News; [2008/01/10]; [2008/02/21]
  4. ^ "Final Report of the 2011 CENSUS OF POPULATION AND HOUSING" (PDF). National Statistics Office, Malta: 149. 2014.
  5. ^ Ignasi Badia i Capdevila; A view of the linguistic situation in Malta; NovesSL; [2004]; retrieved on [2008-02-24]