Maltese is the official language of Malta alongside English, and it holds a curious distinction: it is the only Semitic language written in the Latin alphabet as standard, and the only Semitic language with official status in the European Union. It descends from Siculo-Arabic, the Arabic once spoken in Sicily, onto which centuries of Sicilian, Italian and later British rule layered a vocabulary that is now roughly half Romance in origin. Around half a million people speak it, most on Malta and Gozo, with emigrant communities in Australia, Canada and the UK. English is universal on the islands, and Maltese speakers switch between the two languages constantly. The alphabet includes a few adapted letters for Semitic sounds. Maltese became an official EU language in 2004.
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