Localize Mt

Localize: Maltese (mt → Malti)

Distilled from production translation prompts for Maltese. Follow these rules verbatim — they are model-agnostic and produce native-quality Maltese output for Malta (mt-MT).

Mindset

> Int kittieb Malti nattiv eżiġenti ħafna li tobgħod espressjonijiet mhux naturali bil-Malti, bħat-traduzzjonijiet litterali mill-Ingliż jew frażi goffi. Issa trid tirrevedi dan it-test sakemm jilħaq livell ta' fluwenza u naturalezza li jissodisfak għal kollox, filwaqt li tippreżerva t-tifsira oriġinali.

Reject literal English calques and forced neologisms. Restructure fully into natural Maltese. Maltese tolerates English noun loanwords (file → fajl, settings, dashboard, link) and Italian-origin verbs (issejvja, ikkanċella, ikklikkja). Forced obscure pure-Maltese neologisms when the bilingual-tech term is universally understood are NOT desirable — Maltese is genuinely diglossic.

Scope & Variants

This skill targets Standard Maltese (Malti Standard, mt-MT) as defined by the Kunsill Nazzjonali tal-Ilsien Malti (National Council for the Maltese Language) and used in:

• Government, parliament, courts (Maltese is co-official with English under Article 5 of the Constitution).
• Education and media (TVM, l-Orizzont, Times of Malta Maltese edition).
• L-Akkademja tal-Malti orthography (the official 1924 reformed system, with subsequent updates).
• Software UI, formal correspondence, and product copy.

There is no significant regional variant inside Malta for written purposes. Spoken dialects exist (Gozitan / Għawdxi has distinctive features; Cottonera/Three Cities Maltese, Żejtuni, etc.) but written Standard Maltese is unified. There are also Maltese diaspora communities in Australia, Canada, UK, and Tunisia — they use the same written standard.

NOT in scope:

• Vernacular spoken forms with heavy code-switching ("Maltenglish" / "Manglish") — fine in conversation, NOT in product UI.
• Archaic/literary forms (e.g., Dun Karm's poetic register).
• Italian or Sicilian (despite massive lexical overlap — Maltese is a separate language).
• Tunisian Arabic or any Arabic variety (despite shared Semitic root — Maltese is genuinely distinct and uses Latin script).

Identity Guardrail (CRITICAL — read every translation start)

Maltese is the ONLY Semitic language in the European Union AND the only Semitic language written in Latin script anywhere in the world. It is a unique linguistic identity:

• Family: Afro-Asiatic > Semitic > Central Semitic > Arabic > Maghrebi > Siculo-Arabic (medieval Sicilian Arabic, c. 870–1249 CE) → Maltese. Then ~800 years of separation from the Arabic world plus heavy Italian/Sicilian/English contact.
• Script: Latin alphabet with diacritics (Ċ Ġ Ħ Ż), not Arabic abjad. Maltese speakers DO NOT read Arabic script and an Arabic-script presentation is alien and unwelcome.
• Mutual intelligibility with Arabic: ASYMMETRIC and limited. A Maltese speaker may catch some Tunisian/Libyan colloquial words; an Arabic speaker generally cannot read or understand spoken Maltese without learning it. The shared core vocabulary (~30% of high-frequency words) is heavily phonologically eroded and the rest is Romance/English.
• Mutual intelligibility with Italian: ZERO at the grammar level. Maltese verbs conjugate Semitically (root-and-pattern). Italian shares vocabulary (~52% Romance lexicon in Maltese) but the morphology is alien to an Italian speaker. Maltese is NOT a dialect of Italian.
• EU status: Official EU language since 2004. All EU documents are translated into Maltese. Malta is a full EU member, Eurozone member (since 2008), Schengen member.
• Religion: Overwhelmingly Roman Catholic (~95%). Cultural and idiomatic references are Catholic (festas, il-Madonna, San Pawl, il-Quddiesa). Islamic terminology is foreign in Maltese cultural context despite the Arabic linguistic root — DO NOT assume Islamic framing.
• Population: ~500,000 speakers in Malta + Maltese diaspora.

Do NOT:

• Render Maltese in Arabic script.
• Treat Maltese as "a kind of Arabic" — it is its own language with its own literary tradition since the 18th century.
• Treat Maltese as "Italian-ish" — the grammar core is Semitic.
• Strip the diacritics (Ċ → C, Ġ → G, Ħ → H, Ż → Z) — these are DIFFERENT letters, not "fancy versions" of plain ones.
• Confuse Maltese with Maltese English (the variety of English spoken in Malta — that's different content).
• Use Arabic religious terminology (Allah, salaam, inshallah) — culturally inappropriate. Maltese says Alla (also meaning God, but in Catholic context), bonġu (good morning, from Italian), jekk Alla jrid (God willing, Catholic register).

Maltese Alphabet (30 letters)

The Maltese alphabet has 30 letters in this official order:

A B Ċ D E F Ġ G GĦ H Ħ I IE J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Ż Z

Note: GĦ (digraph) and IE (digraph) are listed as single letters. H (plain h) and Ħ (h-bar) are separate letters. G (plain g) and Ġ (g-overdot) are separate letters. Z (plain z) and Ż (z-overdot) are separate letters.

Special letters — exact Unicode and sound

| Letter | Unicode (uppercase / lowercase) | IPA | Origin | Example word | Translation | |--------|---------------------------------|-----|--------|--------------|-------------| | Ċ ċ | U+010A / U+010B | /tʃ/ | overdot — from Italian "c" + Semitic | ċans, ċavetta, biċċa, ġiċċ | chance, key, piece, edge | | Ġ ġ | U+0120 / U+0121 | /dʒ/ | overdot | ġurnata, ġenna, ġid, oġġett | day, paradise, wealth, object | | GĦ għ | digraph (G + Ħ) | silent / vowel lengthener | from Arabic ʿayn ع | għajn, għada, għajnuna, tagħlim | eye/spring, tomorrow, help, teaching | | Ħ ħ | U+0126 / U+0127 | /ħ/ pharyngeal | from Arabic ḥ ح | ħaġa, ħobż, ħafna, ħelu | thing, bread, much, sweet | | IE ie | digraph (I + E) | /iː/ or /ɪə/ | native | ktieb, kbir (no), tieni, fieres | book, big (no — kbir uses i, not ie), second, ill | | Ż ż | U+017B / U+017C | /z/ | overdot | żmien, żball, żewġ, ħaża | time, error, two, harvest | | Q q | standard | /ʔ/ glottal stop | from Arabic ق | qattus, qalb, qiegħda, sieq | cat, heart, sitting, foot/leg | | X x | standard | /ʃ/ "sh" | from Arabic ش | xemx, xita, xahar, xebh | sun, rain, month, resemblance | | J j | standard | /j/ "y" sound | native | jum, jien, jaf | day, I, knows |

Critical: NEVER strip diacritics or substitute plain letters

These are NOT "decoration" — they distinguish meaning:

| With diacritic | Without (WRONG) | Meaning shift | |----------------|-----------------|---------------| | żmien (time) | zmien | Ż and Z are different letters; "zmien" is non-existent / typo | | ħobż (bread) | hobz | Ħ ≠ H; the word becomes nonsensical | | ġurnata (day) | gurnata | Ġ ≠ G; "gurnata" reads as if pronounced with hard g | | ċans (chance) | cans | Ċ ≠ C; in Maltese plain C is not used at all (replaced by Ċ or K) | | għajn (eye/spring) | ghajn | GĦ is one letter — losing the bar over ħ makes it unreadable | | żball (error) | zball | Ż ≠ Z; "zball" doesn't exist | | ħafna (many) | hafna | Ħ ≠ H | | ġid (wealth) | gid | Ġ ≠ G |

Severity 3.0 — stripping diacritics is a critical error. Maltese plaintext without diacritics is the equivalent of writing French "etre presse" instead of "être pressé" — it identifies the writer as a foreigner who doesn't respect the language.

Note on plain C: Maltese alphabet has no plain C. The phoneme /k/ is written K (kelb = dog, ktieb = book) and /tʃ/ is written Ċ. So a word like "computer" borrowed from English becomes kompjuter (with K) in Maltese orthography. If you see plain "C" in supposedly-Maltese text, it is either a foreign brand name kept as-is, or an error.

Register

Maltese has a much less rigid formality system than Italian, French, or German. There is no clear T-V (tu/Lei) distinction in modern usage.

The three address forms

| Form | Use | Verb form | UI default? | |------|-----|-----------|-------------| | int (you, singular) | Standard for all UI, customer service, professional writing, friendly business | 2nd person singular | YES — default for product UI | | intom (you, plural) | Genuinely addressing multiple people | 2nd person plural | Only when truly plural | | Sinjur / Sinjura + 3rd person | Hyper-formal, rare, mostly legal/parliamentary | 3rd person singular | NO — sounds stuffy in UI |

Bottom line: Use int consistently for software UI. There is no "casual vs polite" choice to make at the pronoun level — Maltese product UI is uniformly direct without sounding rude.

What changes register in Maltese (NOT pronouns)

Since pronouns don't shift, register is signalled by:

• Vocabulary register: prefer Romance loanwords (ikkanċella, irriserva, ikkonferma) for formal tone; prefer Semitic-core words (ħassar, agħlaq, iftaħ) for direct/neutral tone. Mixing is fine and natural.
• Sentence length and complexity: short imperatives = direct; longer subordinated clauses = formal.
• English code-switching: more English mixed in = casual; pure Maltese = formal. UI typically uses moderate code-switching (the term "fajl", "settings", "login" are acceptable).
• Greetings: "Bonġu" (good morning, Italian-origin) is universal polite; "Hi" / "Ħaj" is informal.

Consistency rules

• Pick a register at the start of a file and hold it for the entire file.
• DON'T mix "int" and "intom" unless the text genuinely shifts between addressing one user and multiple.
• DON'T mix heavy English code-switching with otherwise formal Maltese — looks like a mistake.
• Buttons: imperative 2nd person singular form (Iffranka, Aħsar, Iftaħ, Agħżel) regardless of overall register.

Critical Hard Rules

1. Definite article il- and sun-letter assimilation (CRITICAL, severity 2.5)

The definite article il- assimilates to 9 sun consonants (ittri tax-xemx). This is parallel to Arabic ال (al-) sun-letter assimilation, inherited directly from Siculo-Arabic.

Sun letters (xemxin): Ċ, D, N, R, S, T, X, Ż, Z Moon letters (qamrin): B, F, Ġ, G, GĦ, H, Ħ, J, K, L, M, P, Q, V, W Before vowels: the i drops → l-

| Letter | Article form | Example | Translation | |--------|--------------|---------|-------------| | Ċ (sun) | iċ- | iċ-ċans, iċ-ċavetta | the chance, the key | | D (sun) | id- | id-dar, id-dawl | the house, the light | | N (sun) | in- | in-nar, in-nanna | the fire, the grandmother | | R (sun) | ir- | ir-raġel, ir-rota | the man, the wheel | | S (sun) | is- | is-sema, is-sodda | the sky, the bed | | T (sun) | it- | it-tifel, it-tieqa | the boy, the window | | X (sun) | ix- | ix-xemx, ix-xita | the sun, the rain | | Ż (sun) | iż- | iż-żmien, iż-żewġ | the time, the two | | Z (sun) | iz- | iz-zalza, iz-zokk | the sauce, the trunk | | B (moon) | il- | il-bieb, il-baħar | the door, the sea | | F (moon) | il- | il-fajl, il-fenek | the file, the rabbit | | Ġ (moon) | il- | il-ġurnata, il-ġnien | the day, the garden | | G (moon) | il- | il-gallarija, il-gass | the gallery, the gas | | GĦ (moon) | l- (before għ) | l-għajn, l-għada | the spring/eye, tomorrow (note: għ acts vowel-like) | | H (moon) | il- | il-hena, il-hobby | the joy, the hobby | | Ħ (moon) | il- | il-ħobż, il-ħaġa | the bread, the thing | | J (moon) | il- | il-jum, il-jott | the day, the yacht | | K (moon) | il- | il-ktieb, il-kelb | the book, the dog | | L (moon) | il- | il-lejl, il-lampa | the night, the lamp | | M (moon) | il- | il-mara, il-mejda | the woman, the table | | P (moon) | il- | il-passaport, il-poeżija | the passport, the poem | | Q (moon) | il- | il-qattus, il-qalb | the cat, the heart | | V (moon) | il- | il-vapur, il-vjaġġ | the ship, the journey | | W (moon) | il- | il-wiċċ, il-warda | the face, the rose | | Vowel start | l- | l-istudent, l-omm, l-iskola | the student, the mother, the school |

Wrong → Correct examples:

| Wrong | Correct | Why | |-------|---------|-----| | il-tifel | it-tifel | T is a sun letter | | il-sodda | is-sodda | S is sun | | il-raġel | ir-raġel | R is sun | | il-żmien | iż-żmien | Ż is sun | | il-ċans | iċ-ċans | Ċ is sun | | il-xemx | ix-xemx | X is sun | | in-ktieb | il-ktieb | K is moon — don't over-assimilate | | ir-ġurnata | il-ġurnata | Ġ is moon — don't over-assimilate | | il-iskola | l-iskola | Vowel start → drop i | | il-omm | l-omm | Vowel start → drop i | | iż-zalza | iz-zalza | Z and Ż are different letters; iz- for Z, iż- for Ż |

Why severity 2.5: native speakers will catch this immediately. It is the most visible "is this writer actually Maltese?" test.

2. Maltese days of the week — definite article in action

All day names start with the definite article + sun-letter assimilation (or moon). This is a great mini-quiz on whether you understand the system:

| Day | Maltese | Article + assimilation analysis | |-----|---------|----------------------------------| | Monday | It-Tnejn | il- + tnejn → it- (T is sun) | | Tuesday | It-Tlieta | il- + tlieta → it- (T is sun) | | Wednesday | L-Erbgħa | il- + erbgħa → l- (vowel start) | | Thursday | Il-Ħamis | il- + ħamis → il- (Ħ is moon) | | Friday | Il-Ġimgħa | il- + ġimgħa → il- (Ġ is moon) | | Saturday | Is-Sibt | il- + sibt → is- (S is sun) | | Sunday | Il-Ħadd | il- + ħadd → il- (Ħ is moon) |

Day names are always capitalised.

3. Maltese months (always capitalised)

| Month | Maltese | Notes | |-------|---------|-------| | January | Jannar | from Italian gennaio | | February | Frar | native compressed form | | March | Marzu | from Italian marzo | | April | April (or Awwissu? — see below) | Italian aprile | | May | Mejju | from Italian maggio | | June | Ġunju | from Italian giugno — note Ġ | | July | Lulju | from Italian luglio | | August | Awwissu | from Italian agosto | | September | Settembru | Italian settembre | | October | Ottubru | Italian ottobre | | November | Novembru | Italian novembre | | December | Diċembru | Italian dicembre — note Ċ |

Date construction with "ta'" (= "of"):

• 15 ta' Jannar 2024 (long form, the most natural in prose)
• 15/01/2024 (numeric, in UI date pickers)

NOT 15 Jannar 2024 without ta' (sounds wrong) and NOT Jannar 15, 2024 (American order, foreign).

4. Semitic root-and-pattern morphology (severity 1.5)

Native Maltese verbs use a trilateral root (three consonants) and conjugate by inserting vowels in patterns. Italian-origin verbs use a different system. Both coexist.

Example root: k-t-b (writing)

| Form | Maltese | Translation | |------|---------|-------------| | Perfect (he wrote) | kiteb (dictionary form) | wrote | | Verbal noun (writing) | kitba | the act of writing | | Agent noun (writer) | kittieb | a writer | | Passive participle (written) | miktub | written | | Imperfect 2nd person fem sg (you-fem write) | tikteb | you (fem) write | | Plural noun (writings) | kitbiet | writings |

All from the same k-t-b skeleton, with different vowel patterns and prefixes/suffixes.

Example root: f-t-ħ (opening)

| Form | Maltese | Translation | |------|---------|-------------| | Perfect (he opened) | fetaħ | opened | | Imperative (open!) | iftaħ | open! — standard UI button | | Passive participle (open/opened) | miftuħ | open (adj) | | Imperfect (he opens) | jiftaħ | he opens |

Example: Italian-borrowed verb "iffranka" (to save money/file)

• Perfect: iffranka (he saved)
• Imperative: iffranka (save!)
• Imperfect: jiffranka (he saves)
• This verb does NOT have a trilateral root — it conjugates Italian-style with the i- prefix and gemination of the first consonant of the borrowed stem.

**Implication for translato

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Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: i18n-agent
• Source: i18n-agent/i18nstack
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://i18nagent.ai

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.