Every language that I’ve ever had the pleasure in listening to, except one (maybe), has gotten to me in a way where I’ve wanted to also speak and understand their language, as they do. Naf ftit bil-Malti, imma għadni qed (?) nitgħallem was something like I would say to mum or to uncle. Or anyone I thought I could impress. Unfortunately, those days are gone and, so have they.

Growing up and listening to Maltese was for me a bit of a nightmare. I had no idea what mum and her step-mother were talking about. Back then, I couldn’t have given a care about the Maltese language. But after many years, I started to miss it. It sounds a lot like a cross between Italian and something else, maybe Lebanese (?).

An Italian-speaking friend was utterly gob-smacked by me speaking something like Maltese. Of course, I couldn’t, but it was enough to convince him he wanted to find out more about the Maltese language. Now, this friend of mine is maybe speaking a hand-full of languages, including his own native Sardinian language. So, that kind of gave me a kick out of it. ;)

I think that when we listen to music our ears want to listen to more. So, sometimes a tune may stick in our mind and, it won’t go away. And, maybe it’s the same with languages. We can’t wait to hear it again, so the only way to quickly reproduce these sounds is from our own mouths. LOL