Locale Mt Mt

Reference data for the Maltese (Malta) locale — endonym Malti (Malta), written in the Latin script, left-to-right (LTR).

Identifiers

• BCP 47 tag: mt-MT
• ISO 639-1: mt
• ISO 639-3: mlt
• Script: Latn (Latin)
• Region: MT (Malta)
• Text direction: ltr — left-to-right (LTR)

Speakers (approximate)

• L1 (native): 520,000
• L2 (additional): 30,000
• L1+L2 (total): 550,000

Base locale

This is a regional variant of Locale Mt 001 (Maltese), the base/macro locale for this language.

Pluralization

CLDR plural categories for this locale: one, two, few, many, other (5 forms).

• one — n = 1 (e.g. 1)
• two — n = 2 (e.g. 2)
• few — n = 0 or n % 100 = 3..10 (e.g. 0, 3~10, 103~109, 1003, …)
• many — n % 100 = 11..19 (e.g. 11~19, 111~117, 1011, …)
• other — everything else (e.g. 20~35, 100, 1000, 10000, …)

See Unicode Messageformat for writing plural messages using these categories.

Translating into this locale

Apply Locale Mt 001 with the conventions of Malta.

• Context: Maltese and English are both official; many documents are bilingual. English text is Malta English with British spelling (see Locale En Mt).
• Formats: euro; dates 17/10/2026; 24-hour clock; check CLDR mt for separators.
• Terminology: use the Maltese EU terminology (official Maltese versions) for legal and administrative content.

Common pitfalls

• Mixing English words into Maltese product text without need.
• Dropping Maltese letters from names.
• The general pitfalls in Locale Mt 001 also apply.

Learn more

• Locale for BCP 47 identifiers, locale-sensitive formatting, pluralization, and text-direction concepts that apply across all locales.
• Unicode Messageformat for writing plural/selection messages correctly for this locale's grammar.
• EU Interinstitutional Style Guide (https://style-guide.europa.eu), language-specific conventions