What language do they speak in Malta?

Malta has two official languages - Maltese and English. Additionally many local people also speak Italian. When you're in more touristic areas like Valletta, Sliema, Gzira, San Giljan, Buggiba, knowing only English is just fine. All Maltese people speak it plus you'll be surrounded by people from dozens upon dozens of different countries, either other tourists or foreigners working in Malta in iGaming, who speak English anyway. If you go more inland and visit smaller places with less tourists, there are many locals who don't speak much English, but who in addition to Maltese might speak Italian.

But when it comes to Maltese language, what's that like? It has its roots in Arabic, so sometimes it might sound similar to that. But don't tell Maltese people that. While they are great people, they don't like any relation to Arabic world.

According to Wikipedia "Maltese language is descended from Siculo-Arabic, the otherwise extinct variety of Arabic that developed in Sicily and was later introduced to Malta." You could say that Maltese language is the only Arabic language written in latin script. "Maltese is considered an exceptional descendant of Arabic that has no diglossic relationship with Standard Arabic or Classical Arabic." And it has strong influences from Italian and Sicilian language.

While words from Siculo-Arabic make up around one third of Maltese words, half of the vocabulary is actually derived from Sicilian and Italian. And when you listen to Maltese people speaking, you can also tell that it includes roughly 6-20% of English words.