English
It is estimated that English loanwords, which are becoming more commonplace, make up 20% of the Maltese vocabulary, although other sources claim amounts as low as 6%. This percentage discrepancy is due to the fact that a number of new English loanwords are sometimes not officially considered part of the Maltese vocabulary; hence, they are not included in certain dictionaries. English loanwords are generally transliterated, although standard English pronunciation is virtually always retained. Below are a few examples:
| Maltese | English |
|---|---|
| futbol | football |
| baskitbol | basketball |
| klabb | club |
| lift | lift/elevator |
| friġġ | fridge |
Read more about this topic: Maltese Language, Vocabulary
Famous quotes containing the word english:
“One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters.”
—17th-century English proverb, collected in George Herbert, Outlandish Proverbs (1640)
“You might sooner get lightning out of incense smoke than true action or passion out of your modern English religion.”
—John Ruskin (18191900)
“Anyone who has been to an English public school will always feel comparatively at home in prison. It is the people brought up in the gay intimacy of the slums ... who find prison so soul-destroying.”
—Evelyn Waugh (19031966)