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Websites translated from English to Maltese and Maltese to English

Learn the Maltese language to express yourself in Malta's official language

Where can you find texts translated from Maltese to English? Yes, finding decently translated articles or websites is hard. Let’s make it simpler for you by listing these good sources:

TVM

My favorite Maltese news website! All the content is translated into English, just click the logo above the articles to switch languages.

The people of Malta

Wonderful Facebook page. You will regularly find new stories about people living in Malta. Posts are first in Maltese and the English translation is below.

Malta’s government

All the websites of the Maltese government are in both Maltese and English. Switch to Maltese in the bar above. The ‘about Malta’ pages are interesting, not only because they’re in both languages. You’ll find cultural information too.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia is the internet’s free encyclopedia and is translated in many languages, including Maltese. This link will lead you every time you click it to another random page in Maltese. Click on the left below for the translations to English. The translations aren’t done word for word but you’ll understand the meaning.

The Bible

Malta is a Catholic country. It is said there’s a church for every day of the year (365!). So if you enjoy reading the bible, you can read it online on the website of Jehovah’s witnesses (note: I do not support their beliefs or actions, except putting the entire Bible online). It is very useful as the pages and sentences are numbered, so you can check in the English version what it means.

The European Union

Maltese is one of the official languages of the European Union. So many texts are translated into Malta’s language. Even their surveys are translated into Maltese! The section ‘dwar l-UE’ (about the EU) is interesting to read. The Commission’s representation also has some Maltese videos with English subtitles.

Spotted any other resources? Contact me here!

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Learn any language – by watching sports

Love to watch sports? Nice. But did you know you can learn languages at the same time?

You can start by watching your game on television with comments in the language you’re learning. It has many advantages:

  • When your team scores and the commentator shouts: ‘Goal, goal, goal!’, you’ll directly learn a new word.

Football on a green soccer pitch

  • Sports language is a good mix of interesting background and repetitive comments: pass and corner kick will always sound the same. So you’ll start to remember quickly.
  • How the commentator pronounces the name of the players shows the pronunciation of the language.
  • Some news channels give live written comments. So you can watch and read at the same time.

Is the game over? Time to practice what you’ve learned during the game. Head over to a news website and read the resume. Find the words you’ve learned and try to understand the meaning of the sentences.

Reading the resume will not only repeat the new words you’ve seen. You can also learn new expressions and new words. These expressions will come back in the next games you’re going to watch. You might even see words you’ve heard during the game but couldn’t understand.

If necessary, use an online dictionary. Especially if you see expressions and words commentators often use.

When you’ve read the resume, it’s time to step up your game. Many TV channels offer a video resume on their website. Watch it after the game. The commentator will explain in a few sentences what happened during the game.

These few sentences are usually at a higher level. The commentator has to squeeze all that happened in just a few lines. However, here are the advantages of watching the video:

  • you already know what happened
  • you can watch it again and again
  • you can re-read the written resume

Of course, you don’t need to follow each step. Feel free to read resumes of games you haven’t seen. But it’s a fun way of learning a language!

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Present continuous in the Dutch language: aan het

How do you say ‘I’m eating’ in Dutch? Or: I’m walking now? Yes, English speakers often use the present continuous: to be + verb + ing attached. But how do you use it in Dutch?

Simple:

  • Ik eet. (I’m eating)
  • Ik wandel nu. (I’m walking now)

Isn’t that the simple present? Yes.

Present continuous or not?

In Dutch, the present continuous isn’t used as often as in English. That’s why Dutch language teachers sometimes even forget to mention it. It is used to explicitly stress the verb.

When you use the present continuous, use to be + aan het + infinitive.

So if someone is calling you and you want to tell that person you’re eating and you’d like to diplomatically say you can’t speak for the moment, you can answer:

  • Ik ben aan het eten (I’m eating).

    a woman is reading and learning Dutch
    Ze is aan het lezen (she’s reading)

Or if you’re informing your son is walking, and he shouldn’t be disturbed:

  • Hij is aan het wandelen nu (He’s walking now).

And if you’re studying Dutch together (bonus points if you do) with some pals :

  • We zijn Nederlands aan het studeren nu (We’re studying Dutch now).

To ask a question with aan het, you can ask:

  • Wat ben je aan het doen? (What are you doing?)
  • Ik ben aan het dansen. (I’m dancing)

Note that the past continuous simply uses the past tense of to be:

  • Ik was aan het dansen (I was dancing).

Exercises

Translate the following with the present continuous:

  1. They are eating in the restaurant.
  2. We’re dancing outside now.
  3. What were you doing?
  4. I’m studying.
  5. What are you studying? (plural)

Solutions

  1. Ze zijn aan het eten in het restaurant.
  2. We zijn nu buiten aan het dansen.
  3. Wat was je aan het doen?
  4. Ik ben aan het studeren.
  5. Wat zijn jullie aan het studeren?

 

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Tout, toute, toutes and tous: all in French

How do you say ‘all‘ in French? A simple question but a long answer. All can be used in two different contexts:

  • All the children.
  • I want all (of them).

The first one stands with a noun (the children) and the second one stands alone or adds ‘of them’. In English, it’s twice all. In French, no.

All in French with nouns

In French, every noun (like ‘children’) is male or female.Male nouns use ‘le’ for ‘the’ and female ones ‘la’. It depends on the gender which form of ‘tout’ you’ll have to use. For example:

  • Les hommes: tous les hommes (all men)
  • Les femmes: toutes les femmes (all women)

And what about one man or one woman? In English, we use ‘a whole man’ or ‘a whole woman’. In French, we use a form of tout:

  • Tout un homme (a whole man)

    The whole universe: tout l’univers
  • Toute une femme (a whole woman)

As you see, whether it’s a male or a female word is again important to know whether it’s tout or toute.

All standing alone

To use all standing alone, you use a form of tout as well. However, the ending changes, depending on what you’d like to say. If it’s ‘all of them’ or ‘every single one of them’, it’s tous. If it means ‘everything’, it’s tout:

  • Je veux tout. (I want everything)
  • Ils sont tous là. (All of them are there)

Note that with ‘tous’, you’ll need another word to say who’s concerned. In English, it’s translated as ‘of them’. Here, it’s ‘ils’. They are all there. Two more examples:

  • Ils les mangent tous (they eat all of them)
  • Nous sommes tous là (we are all there)

Exercises

Let’s do some exercises. Fill in the blanks:

  1. Ils font _.
  2. Je travaille _ la journée.
  3. Je les vois _.
  4. Il y a _ un groupe.
  5. _ les groupes sont là?
  6. J’aime _ les maisons.

Solutions:

tout – toute – tous – tout – tous – tous

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To like in Dutch: graag

Learn the Dutch language from Belgium, also called Flemish

How do you say ‘I like to dance’ in Dutch? If you ask this question as a beginner,  your teacher will probably say it’s too soon. Why? Because ‘to like’ isn’t as easy in Dutch as it is in English.

No verb, no like

There is no specific verb for ‘to like’ in Dutch. At best, you can use ‘houden van.’ So, the translation would be:

  • Ik hou van dansen. (I like/love to dance)

But the literal translation is: I love to dance. Yes, houden van is to love. So it can also mean to like a lot, just as well as to love. To a loved one, you’d say:

  • Ik hou van jou. (I love you)

Graag: no verb

Dutch persons usually use ‘graag’ as a way to express they like something. Graag is no verb but it always stands with a verb. And to be more precise, usually just after the verb.

  • Ik dans graag. (I like to dance)

So if you’d like to make the sentence longer, you’ll add the words after graag:

  • Ik dans graag salsa met mijn vrienden. (I like to dance salsa with my friends)

If there is no verb, you use ‘hebben’, to have, with graag.

  • Ik heb graag kinderen. (I like kids)

Other uses of graag

Water? Graag!

Graag is also used for other purposes, which can be confusing. But here’s the other uses:

  1. Yes in a polite way.
  2. Politeness. Used in combination with zouden (would) or willen (want), or both zouden and willen.
  • Water, meneer? (water, mister)
  • Graag (yes, with pleasure)
  • En wat wil u drinken? (and what do you want to drink)
  • Ik zou graag een glas cola willen, alstublieft (I’d like a glass of cola, please)

Exercises

Translate (with graag):

  1. He likes to eat.
  2. I like dancing in the dark.
  3. Do we like to go to the cinema?
  4. They like ice cream.

Put the words in the right order:

  1. graag – drinkt – water – ze .
  2. weer – in – van – houden -zij – België – het .
  3. zou – krijgen – koffie – graag – je – tas – een .

Solutions

  1. Hij eet graag.
  2. Ik dans graag in het donker.
  3. Gaan we graag naar de cinema?
  4. Zij hebben graag ijsjes.

 

  1. Ze drinkt graag water.
  2. Zij houden van het weer in België.
  3. Je zou graag een tas koffie krijgen.

Improve your Dutch by taking some private classes…

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Learn languages with Udemy – a good idea?

Learning languages online is a challenge, as there’s almost no social pressure to attend classes. That’s one of the reasons why many learners prefer to learn languages online. One of the platforms offering courses is Udemy. That’s where I also teach courses.

On Udemy, there are many other language courses though, ranging from Chinese to German via Arabic. Let’s put some pros and cons of learning with Udemy next to each other.

Pros and cons

Pro: There are many free courses available. It’s easy. You can learn anytime, anywhere. You can also review any of the lessons anytime, without having to pay. There are different levels, from beginners to experts. You can ask questions to your teacher. There are certificates.

Learn languages online with Udemy ©

Con: no face-to-face contact with your teacher. Some students pay but never start the course. Not all teachers reply to questions (I do!). There are not many options for ‘smaller’ languages. And, the quiz system is not adapted to language courses.

Despite these caveats, I still think it’s a valuable way to learn a language. Especially if you need to repeat more often than other students. You can always review the videos at a later time. Even after years. It’s also handy if you find a course that really suits your needs.

What to do on Udemy

Some best practices:

  • Always check if there are free previews available. Most teachers give some of their content away so students know what to expect.
  • See how many and which ratings the courses have. Udemy strictly checks if those are fraudulous, so you can trust these ratings are right. 52 reviews and a 4.7 rating on a course is better than 2 5-star ratings.
  • Finally, buying a course is more like a stepping stone: it’s the beginning. Many teachers include links to more materials, so use those links!

Also check out my Facebook page, where I share free links for paid language courses!

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All in Dutch: al, alle, alles, allen, allemaal

Learn the Dutch language from Belgium, also called Flemish

So when an English-speaking student is learning the Dutch translation for ‘all’, all hell breaks loose. How do you explain to a student there are five (!) ways to translate ‘all’?

Let’s see them all:

  1. Is that all?
  2. All are here. (as in people)
  3. All people are here.
  4. All the people are here.
  5. We are all here.

All as in everything

If you can replace the ‘all’ by everything, you use ‘alles’.

  • Is dat alles? (Is that all)

All as in everyone

If you can replace the ‘all’ by everyone, you use ‘allen.’ You can also use iedereen.

  • Allen zijn hier. (all are here)

All plus nouns

When you’re using all plus a noun, you use ‘alle.’ There’s nothing standing between de ‘all’ and the noun.

  • Alle mensen zijn hier. (all people are here)

All plus article plus nouns

If there’s an article or a pronoun (this, that) in between the all and the nouns, it’s ‘al.’

  • Al de mensen zijn hier. (all the people are here)
All or everything?

All separated from the noun

When all stands behind the noun, use ‘allemaal’. Allen can also be used in case of people.

  • We zijn allemaal hier.  (we are all here)

Exercises

(words: de studenten, de leraars, werken met, naar België, was, het)

  1. All students go to Belgium.
  2. The students all go to Belgium.
  3. All go to Belgium.
  4. All teachers work with all the students.
  5. Was it all, students?

Solutions

  1. Alle studenten gaan naar België.
  2. De studenten gaan allemaal naar België.
  3. Allen gaan naar België.
  4. Alle leraars werken met al de studenten.
  5. Was het alles, studenten?
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Free Dutch course online

Interested in learning the Dutch language? Here’s your way to do it for free.

In over 40 lectures, you’ll learn the basic grammar and over 300 Dutch words!

Start with the introduction to the course so you can start learning Dutch in 7 different sections:

  • Section 1: how to introduce yourself
  • Section 2: how to talk about jobs, countries and names
  • Section 3: the Dutch verbs
  • Section 4: the possessive, the family and the negative
  • Section 5: how to ask questions, how to use diminutive and when to write capitals
  • Section 6: the numbers and pronouns
  • Section 7: extra resources

    Get my book!

Enjoy the course and let me know what you liked and liked less!

Here’s the full description of the course:

Learn Dutch – this is the place to start learning Flemish online!

This is your opportunity! In this course, we start from zero. Indeed, zero. No previous knowledge needed. No expensive study books. We build on our way to learn Dutch, step by step. Learn at your own pace to translate Dutch, you can review the videos and redo the exercises any time, as much as you want! Learn Dutch online!
What can you expect?
Learning Dutch is difficult. Yes. So no unnecessary, 10-minute long Dutch grammar lessons with all the rules. Only what you need to know. Tips where you can find more Dutch language. Over 300 Dutch words to use in your everyday life. An interactive quiz at the end of each section, also about the Dutch vocabulary. Culture to understand Dutch better.
For who is this course?
You don’t understand Dutch, or barely. And you want to know how to speak Dutch. And it’s taught for you. Ready to start?
The level is Dutch A1 to Dutch A2.

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Busy in Dutch: druk or bezig

Learn the Dutch language from Belgium, also called Flemish

During one of my online Dutch lessons, a student said this:

  • Het was een bezige week (= it was a busy week).

It’s a literal translation from English into Dutch. Due to the close relationship between the two languages, it’s a good tactic. However, in this case, it isn’t.

So I corrected my student:

  • Het was een drukke week.

But I couldn’t tell why. Yes, language teachers do not know everything. So I did some research and found interesting forum conversations on an amazing website. And here’s how it is:

Bezige bij or drukke bij?

Bezig is used for living things doing an activity. The result is that the living thing can’t do something else:

  • Jan, kan je me helpen? (= Jan, can you help me?)
  • Nee, ik ben bezig. (= No, I’m busy.)

So a week can’t be ‘bezig’. Because it’s not a living thing. Also, it’s not doing an activity. And that is why it’s a drukke week. Let’s do some exercises:

Fill in: druk/bezig (solution below)

  • Ben je met de afwas … ?
  • Het plein is … .
  • Jan is altijd zo’n … mens.
  • Op het werk is het altijd … .
  • Hij is … . Dus vraag het aan Sara.

(afwas = dishes, zo’n = such a)

Mind as well that you can use ‘druk bezig‘ as in very busy. Again, this is only for living things doing an activity.

Druk can also mean pressure. For example luchtdruk (= air pressure) and in stressful situations. And ‘bezet‘ means occupied. As in what you have to reply when you’re in the bathroom.

Fun fact: a busy bee is an expression also used in Dutch: een bezige bij. It’s a living thing and doing an activity.

Solutions:

Bezig – druk – drukke – druk – bezig.

 

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To be in Maltese

Learn the Maltese language to express yourself in Malta's official language

Is the verb to be making you lose all your hair? Yes, indeed. Maltese isn’t easy. It’s always a good idea to start learning a language by learning the verb to be. So how is it exactly in Maltese?

To be or the pronouns?

Here’s the list:

  • jien/jiena = I am
  • int/inti = you are
  • hu/huwa = he is
  • hi/hija = she is
  • aħna = we are
  • intom = you are
  • huma = they are

Actually, these are the pronouns: I, you, he, etc… So you have to think the verb to be with it. If there is another verb in the sentence, the pronoun is probably added to that verb.

  • Huma jaħdmu f’dari = They work in my house.

This is to stress the fact that ‘they’ are working. Not someone else. So the pronoun is only used to stress who is performing the action in the sentence. If it’s not important to stress it, Maltese say:

  • Jaħdmu f’dari

So if there is no other verb in the sentence, it’s to be.

Which one to choose?

Now: one more question. Is it jien or jiena? Int or inti? Well, the short version is used to stress the difference between the person as an opposition to someone else.

  • Min jaħdem? = Who works?
  • Jien! = I am (but the others aren’t)

Learn more conjugations in my book: