Comments on: And then they say we don't speak Arabic

By: Philip

Philip — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 10:00:37 +0000

English is derived from Anglo-Saxon and is in fact foreign to the country which bears its name. France is named for the Franks who occupied it ….. etc etc etc most languages are derived or are a combination of others.

The most powerful country in the world does not even have its own language, after all.

Incidentally, the Maltese genome is most closely related to the Spanish. This is probably due to the Arabs who left their DNA both in Malta and in Spain and were subsequently pushed into the Barbary Coast to establish the Maghreb.

By: Twanny

Twanny — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:19:35 +0000

In reply to Chris II.

You forgot to mention the most obvious – “Alla” for “God”.

By: jomar

jomar — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:27:26 +0000

Why would Akbar Zib be rejected in Malta?

We have many Zibs already as it is!

By: SPTT

SPTT — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:40:57 +0000

Il-Malti mhuwiex djalett izda lingwa. Huwa minnu li ghandu bazi semitika (ghalkemm qatt ma smajt l-ebda lingwista isarraf dan f’ %) u elementi rumanzi u anglo-sassoni. Huwa lingwa ghaliex (apparti milli jissodisfa l-kriterji grammatici, morfologici, lessici, sintattici etc) evolva hafna mill-Gharbi, ghandu territorju u ghandu wkoll tradizzjoni ta’ letteratura. Min isejjah lil Malti djalett qieghed ibaxxih!

By: Paul Caruana

Paul Caruana — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:22:48 +0000

Miangul Akbar Zeb is the Pakistani high commissioner to Canada. The story of his rejection as ambassador to Saudi Arabia is a hoax.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/theyve-distorted-my-name/article1463954/

By: Twanny

Twanny — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 07:12:01 +0000

In reply to Paul Bonnici. Was, Paul, was Arabic. Since it was sundered from Arabic it has developed into a separate language

By: Anthony Briffa

Anthony Briffa — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 06:12:31 +0000

May be this Akbar Zib will be welcome in Malta. He might be invited to join LGBT as an adviser.

By: Chris II

Chris II — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 06:01:57 +0000

In reply to David. Though you are right except for the Phoenician part (all traces of that language disappeared from the Maltese language) the wikipaedia entry that you quoted is full of errors, inaccuracies and fantasies. In the 19th century, part of the Maltese history (including language) was invented to increase the patriotic feeling. The best example of this is the Maltese flag being given to us by Count Roger.

By: Stephen Forster

Stephen Forster — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 02:18:08 +0000

This was a real BIG issue here in Saudi….. :-)

By: Paul Bonnici

Paul Bonnici — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 23:32:19 +0000

In reply to H.P. Baxxter.

You are right H.P. Baxxter about the ‘filling’ bit.

About Maltese being 80% Arabic, it is difficult to give an accurate percentage, that is my personal guess. I know this is debatable.

But I would not say it is unreasonable to assume that Maltese is 80% Arabic if a native speaker of Arabic masters Maltese in 6 months.

I think the hardest and most important bit about a language is to string the words together to compose a sentence and this in Maltese is similar to Arabic.

I spent time in Tunisia and Egypt and a Maltese friend of mine who cannot speak English could make himself understood in Arab countries but he was stuck in Italy and UK, despite there being many romance and English words in Maltese. Maybe this explains the 80% guess or assumption. I stand to be corrected though.