MATSEC IM Maltese common mistakes
MATSEC IM Maltese · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
When reading the passage aloud, the candidate drops għ completely and replaces ħ, x, q and ż with h, sh, k and z, so 'għalliem', 'ħabib', 'xemx' and 'qalb' sound like English words; word stress also follows an English pattern instead of the Maltese penultimate/default stress.
The candidate's everyday spoken Maltese is colloquial and rarely seen in print at speed. Under exam pressure the eye meets 'għ' or 'x' and the mouth falls back on the nearest English sound; nobody has corrected the reading aloud before.
What to do instead
Make a 40-word drill list of high-frequency għ/ħ/x/q words and read it aloud daily while recording. Pencil a mark under every silent għ in the exam passage during the preparation minute. Shadow two minutes of a Maltese news bulletin and compare your recording with the original. In a mock read-aloud, ask the teacher to mark pronunciation only, not content.
The conversation part collapses into English: the candidate answers a Maltese question with 'yes, because... basically...', fills pauses with English words, and gives 5–10 word answers with no development.
Bilingual habit plus a limited active range of connectors. Fear of making a grammar mistake pushes the candidate towards the shortest possible answer, and there is no prepared stock of Maltese discourse markers to fall back on.
What to do instead
Memorise 15 Maltese connectors and force at least four into every answer (jiġifieri, mela, allura, fil-fatt, minn naħa, min-naħa l-oħra, pereżempju, għalhekk). Prepare 90-second monologues on ten predictable topics (school, family, environment, technology, sport, a recent event) and re-record until fluent. Use the answer + reason + example rule so no answer is shorter than three sentences.
In the aural paper the candidate answers only the first half of a two-part item, misses negation (mhux, ma ...x, lanqas, ebda) and numbers or dates, and writes the answer in English instead of Maltese.
The items are not previewed during the pause, so the candidate listens word by word rather than for the piece of information requested. Note-taking habits from English-medium subjects carry over into the answer booklet.
What to do instead
Use the pause to underline the question word and predict the type of answer (a reason, a place, a number). Take notes in Maltese shorthand and listen specifically for contrast and negation cues. Answer in Maltese even when the note is in English. Do timed listening papers and check every answer against the transcript afterwards, marking where the distracter was planted.
Article and preposition-article errors in writing: 'il-sħab', 'il-dar', 'il-xemx' for is-sħab, id-dar, ix-xemx; 'minn il-belt', 'għal il-ħabib', 'ta' il-ġenituri' for mill-belt, għall-ħabib, tal-ġenituri.
The sun-letter assimilation (konsonanti xemxin) is taught early and never revisited. In speech the article runs into the noun, so the written form is guessed rather than known; the contractions with minn, għal and ta' are treated as optional.
What to do instead
Chant the sun-letter set (ċ, d, n, r, s, t, x, ż, z) until automatic, and learn that għ and vowels take l-. Then drill the contractions as a single rule: minn + il- = mill-, mis-, miċ-, mid-, mit-, mix-, miż-, mir-. Write twenty sentences converting 'minn/għal/ta' + article + noun' and have them corrected.
Pronoun morphology goes wrong: 'jagħti lili' for jagħtini, 'ma' jien' for miegħi, 'għal jien' for għalija, 'fihom' and 'fih' swapped, and number forms confused ('tliet snin' fine but 'sentejn', 'ġimagħtejn', 'żewġ kotba' mishandled).
English analytic word order is transferred directly ('to me', 'with me', 'for me'). The suffix paradigm is memorised as an isolated list of endings and never practised inside real sentences, so it is not available when writing.
What to do instead
Build a grid: verb + object suffix (jagħtini, jagħtik, jagħtih, jagħtiha, jagħtina, jagħtikom, jagħtihom) across the top, and ma', f' and għal + pronoun (miegħi, fija, għalija...) down the side. Write one personal sentence per cell. Submit ten sentences a week for correction until no cell produces an error.
Tense and aspect are rendered with English logic: 'Qed ngħix hawn għal ħames snin' for ilni ħames snin ngħix hawn; qed used for habitual actions; kien and kont qed confused; the perfect used where the imperfect is required after a time expression.
Maltese aspect (perfect/imperfect, qed, kien, ilni) does not map one-to-one onto English tenses, and revision notes usually give a single English gloss per form, which the candidate then applies mechanically.
What to do instead
Learn three frames as units: ilni/ilna + duration + imperfect for 'I have been ... for'; qed + imperfect for progressive; kont qed + imperfect for past progressive. Do transformation drills from English sentences into Maltese, then annotate five past-paper texts, labelling every verb with its form and function.
Vocabulary and idiom are translated literally from English: 'tagħmel sens', 'naqbeż il-pont meta nasal', 'taħt pressjoni', 'jirrealizza' used for 'to become aware', 'jassisti' used for 'to help', with English loanwords preferred where an everyday Maltese equivalent exists.
Constant exposure to English media encourages thought-by-thought translation, and the candidate never checks a Maltese monolingual or Maltese–English dictionary, so anglicisms feel correct because they are familiar.
What to do instead
Keep a two-column anglicism log: English-shaped phrase on the left, idiomatic Maltese on the right (għandha sens / hija loġika; jinduna; jgħin; fl-aħħar mill-aħħar). Check doubtful words in a Maltese dictionary before using them. After each composition, rewrite it once with the sole aim of removing every calque.
In reading comprehension the candidate lifts whole sentences from the passage, answers only one half of a two-part question, or picks a sentence that contains the keyword but answers a different question (giving 'what' when the question asked 'għaliex').
Copying feels safe and saves time. The question word is not matched to the type of information required, and the word limit or instruction ('fi kliemek', 'qosor') is ignored.
What to do instead
Before reading, underline the question word (għaliex, kif, kemm, meta, min) and the instruction verb. Locate the paragraph, then write the answer in your own words within the limit. Drill the answer shapes: għaliex → għax / minħabba li; kif → billi + verb. Re-read each answer and ask whether it would satisfy a marker who has not seen the passage.
In composition the candidate ignores text type and audience: no title or opening and closing formulae in an article, email or letter; 'int' mixed with 'intom'; slang in a formal piece; all points dumped into one block with no paragraphing; the piece falls far below the required length.
Full texts are almost never written under timed conditions, model texts are not analysed, and writing is treated as a grammar test rather than as communication with a specified reader.
What to do instead
Spend five minutes on a four-line plan: text type, audience, three or four points, register. Memorise three skeletons (informal email, formal letter, article) including openers and closers. Write three timed pieces, then mark them with a checklist: task fulfilled, paragraphing, range of structures, accuracy, length. Keep the address form consistent throughout.
On the literature questions the candidate retells the plot or paraphrases the poem instead of answering the question, gives no quotation or line reference, uses no literary terminology, and skips the sub-part asking for a personal response on theme or character.
Set texts are revised from summaries and classmates' notes rather than re-read, so plot is what is available. Terminology feels risky, and time is spent on the first, easier sub-part until the second is left blank.
What to do instead
Build a one-page quote bank per text: five to eight short quotations with speaker and context. Practise point–evidence–explanation–link paragraphs so every claim carries a quotation. Learn twelve terms cold (tema, metru, rima, xbieha, personifikazzjoni, kunflitt, persunaġġ, narratur, ambjent, ironija, ton, ħoss) and use at least three per answer. Answer every sub-part explicitly, even briefly.