Similarities Between Maltese and Arabic (Tunisian Dialect)

The Maltese language, as the only Semitic language in the European Union, shares a lot in common with Arabic. In addition, there are even more similarities between Maltese and the Tunisian dialect of Arabic. The reason for this is very interesting and has a lot to do with the history of the region. Starting in the 9th century, following the Muslim conquest of Sicily, for over two centuries, the islands of Sicily and Malta were under Muslim rule, known as the Emirate of Sicily. During this period a variety of Arabic, known as Sicilian Arabic (Siculo-Arabic), was formed. A series of battles eventually led to the fall of Muslim rule. However, Sicilian Arabic continued to be spoken under the new Christian state for a few ensuing centuries until it eventually went extinct. The Maltese language today is considered to be its sole surviving descendant. Tunisian Arabic is also related to Sicilian Arabic and as a result, the degree of mutual intelligibility between Maltese and the Tunisian dialect of Arabic is very high. Be sure to follow us on Instagram and send us all your questions, suggestions and feedback: www.instagram.com/bahadoralast/

The Maltese sounds like an Italian guy who lives in Tunisia for 15 years.

To be honest, Tunisian sounds like an older version of Maltese, as a Maltese native, I love it!

Love to our Tunisian brothers and sisters! 🇹🇳🇲🇹 We love you!

Many people are noticing how he could understand her easier than she did. This is because of the way she pronounces the words as they are written while Maltese people don't pronounce some letters in words which makes them harder to guess. The same way Danish people can understand Swedish, but Swedes can't understand Danish. Swedes pronounce words as they are written while Danes don't.

Fun fact : Tunisian and Maltese language both use the word ''inti'' (which means you) for both male and female, unlike other Arabic dialects, they use ''inta'' for male and inti for a female...

Even his accent sounds like hers with some extra italian elements.

I’m Maltese and I really was amazed with all this. Well done.

Yes!! Expose the Maltese language!! I grew up being told that Maltese is French and Italian because Maltese ppl do not appreciate our roots. Ana Maltiyya by the way, I am learning Arabic since Maltese is 50% there ....

When she said her sentence in arabic I was like "holy moly he won't get anything" cuz she spoke very fast. Turns out he got most of the sentence. Maltese is clearly a lot like tunisian arabic

That maltese guy is kinda speaking something Semitic but with a strong Italian flavor.

Portuguese speaker here. I was shocked to intuitively recognize the words for 'kitchen' and 'ice cream'('cozinha' and 'gelado')! Then again, we have latin and arabic influence, which explains it. Warm regards from Portugal! :)

From Syria i love Tunisua May God keep it safe 😍💐🇸🇾🇹🇳

Finally!!! I’m Tunisian and I’ve always saw these HUGE similarities! May the Tunisian Maltese friendship lasts forever 🇹🇳 🇲🇹🇹🇳🇲🇹🇹🇳🇲🇹

Much love from Malta 🇲🇹 I visited Tunisia and loved it

As an Algerian, I understood a lot from the Maltese surprisingly! (Not too surprised since we are so close to Tunisia)

All the love to tunisia and malta 🇮🇶❤🇹🇳❤🇲🇹

From history, Malta and Sicily were under Tunisia 's Aghlabid Dynasty, Tunisians Maltaise and Sicilians are kind of relatives

I am half 🇲🇹 Maltese and half 🇵🇭 Filipino. My mom speaks fluent Tagalog and my dad spoke fluent Maltese. Hopefully I’ll learn both fluently one day 🙂

Thank you all for this most interesting post. I’m not familiar with Maltese or Tunisian arabic at all but I have a great interest in different lingusitic similarities and the origin of words. You caught my interest and made me stay to see it through.