Looking for a good dictionary to translate English into Maltese, or the other way around? Let’s go over some dictionaries.
Two tips first, though. The Maltese alphabet has some letters English hasn’t: ċ, għ, ġ, ħ and ż. So when you’re looking for a word in a paper dictionary starting with għ, do not look at the words starting with g, you won’t find it there. Also pay attention: is it a ż or a z? And an h or a ħ? G or ġ? This might save you some time – and frustration.
Second: online dictionaries are better than paper ones. Why? Some correct the mistake of writing g’s instead of ġ’s. Also, unlike English, conjugations change verbs… a lot. In English, the verb to eat has few conjugations: eat, eats, eaten, eating and ate. Four of them start with ‘eat.’ However, Maltese has… fifteen conjugations, with five different first letters. And without counting the negative forms.
In paper dictionaries, you’ll only find the so-called ‘mamma’, which serves as an infinitive but is actually the past tense of ‘he’: Kiel (he ate). So most conjugations won’t be in the paper dictionary. Also, some letters at the beginning of words change, depending on whether the preceding word ends with a vowel. For example: jiena wkoll (me too) or jien ukoll (me too). Other example: u jkolli naħdem (and I have to work) / ikolli naħdem (I have to work). Both of these forms are rarely in paper dictionaries.
So let’s take a look at my favourite online dictionaries.
Ġabra is definitely on top of the list. Decently structured, it works both from English to Maltese and the other way around. Has phonetic transcripts and root consonants. Shows related words: typing ‘worker’ in Maltese would show you ‘to work’ as well. You can add direct and indirect objects to verbs, which are pasted to Maltese verbs: I see them is nara + hom = narahom. This example is simple, but some are more complicated.
On the negative side, the site is sometimes offline. Also, it isn’t perfect… like all Maltese dictionaries. For instance, it has no conjugations of some verbs of Italian origin, like ‘induna’, to notice, to realise.
MalteseDictionary.org is a close second. Similar to Ġabra, but not as well structured to show verb conjugations and without objects to attach to verbs. On the positive side, it shows you how frequently the words are used, so you can focus on the most used words. Some words are shown in sample sentences, which is really cool.
Google Translate may not be the best, it doesn’t differentiate between the two ways tiekol (she eats or you eat?) is used, for example. But for phrases, idioms and texts it’s pretty useful, whether you’re writing sentences yourself or looking for a translation. Also, it uses different sources. So have a second look on Google Translate if you didn’t find a result with the two above. It also works with other languages than English, but I’d stick to the English translations. Google sometimes gets lost in translation too.
Glosbe is a dictionary I haven’t used much, but I do appreciate the suggestions when starting to type. Suggestions include short phrases. Gives you sample sentences too, but it seems a bit ‘automatised,’ so I guess there will be quite a bit of mistakes. However, it does include verbs of Italian origin.
Looking for a paper version? The one I use is decent. This one also has good reviews.
