I believe that more Maltese people should study Arabic.

As a Finn with Iraqi roots who wants to relearn his once-lost Arabic, I feel at home in semi-Semitic Malta, but I am disappointed by the lack of interest in Arabic on the part of the Maltese, who seem much more eager to replace Semitic expressions with English ones.

Some even think that Maltese only has ‘some common words’ with Arabic, whereas others know that the basic structure and vocabulary are Arabic but don’t realise that this means the Maltese have a great potential to quickly master a language spoken by 420 million people.

Some people associate Arabic with the Muslim faith and might not be too keen to learn the language. Well, if you believe they are unhappily wrong and that there is something superior about Western culture or the Christian faith, perhaps you’d like to share it with them? And what better way to gain their respect than by learning their language?

Besides, you might be surprised by the numerous commonalities, and would it really be such a bad thing to get to know the world’s second biggest religion a bit better?

In any case, Arabic is not just a Muslim thing. There are more than a million Arabic-speaking Christians out there, an entire ‘cousin culture’ of the Maltese whose riches could be explored for an entire lifetime. For the Maltese, learning Arabic is destined to be an exercise in self-discovery.

Granted, Arabic is difficult, with its alphabet, complex grammar, dialects and throat sounds. Maltese doesn’t have all that, and that’s part of the reason I came to Malta – to learn this simpler ‘European Arabic’ first and then make my way towards the different forms of ‘real’ Arabic.

But you see, as a Maltese speaker you can skip the first part; you are already halfway there. Now just get on with part two and show us (and them) the way.

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