Malta glossary: local words you'll meet in Malta Living

Malta has its own words for its food, its feasts, its offices and its bills, and Malta Living uses them all. This page explains each one in plain English: what it means on the islands, with a link to where we checked it, and where you'll find it in the game.

It's written for players of Malta Living, the free life simulator set in Malta that runs in your browser, and for anyone curious about Malta. Tap a word in any of our posts and you land here.

Food and drink

Pastizzi

A pastizz (plural pastizzi) is Malta's savoury pastry: flaky dough, usually filled with ricotta or with curried peas, and you can tell them apart by how they're folded. They're baked on metal trays in a small pastizzerija and also sold in bars and cafés (Wikipedia). In Malta Living your first pastizz is one of your Malta firsts, and Is-Serkin in Rabat is where the daily pastizzi goal sends you.

Ftira

Ftira is a ring-shaped Maltese bread, usually filled with things like tuna, tomato, onion, capers and olives; in Gozo it comes more like a pizza, often topped with thin slices of potato. In 2020 it was added to UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage (Wikipedia). In the game you can order a Gozo ftira at the harbour in Mġarr, and your first ftira counts as a Malta first.

Kinnie

Kinnie is Malta's own fizzy drink, bittersweet and brown, made from bitter oranges and wormwood. Farsons first brought it out in 1952 and still makes it in Malta (Wikipedia). In Malta Living a Kinnie is in your fridge and at the kiosks, and friends can send you one when you faint.

Cisk

Cisk is Malta's best-known lager, brewed by Simonds Farsons Cisk, the company most people simply call Farsons (Wikipedia). In Malta Living you can order a Cisk at most bars; the pint is at Hugo's.

Malta's traditions

Festa

A festa is a village's yearly feast for its patron saint: the statue carried through the streets, band marches, fireworks and festa sweets. Most are held between May and September, and the band clubs usually organise them (Malta Uncovered). In the game, Festa is one of your outfit occasions, and Festa Fight, Ġostra and Tombla in the Games app are all festa games.

Band club

A band club (każin tal-banda) is a village club with its own brass band. Malta and Gozo have about 91 of them, most open all year with a bar where locals meet, and they lead the village festa, often with long rivalries between neighbouring clubs (Guide Me Malta). In Malta Living, Bixkla is the band club's card game.

Luzzu

A luzzu is Malta's traditional wooden fishing boat, painted yellow, red, green and blue, with a pair of eyes on the bow said to protect fishermen at sea. Marsaxlokk's harbour is famous for them (Wikipedia). The luzzu eye is Malta Living's app icon, and a luzzu sails across the screen while the game updates.

Kelb tal-Fenek

The Kelb tal-Fenek is Malta's own hunting dog; the name means "rabbit dog", and it was bred to hunt rabbits over the islands' rocky ground. Its coat is tan or chestnut and its eyes are amber (Wikipedia). In the game, "Kelb tal-Fenek (tan)" is one of the coats you can pick for a pet dog.

Bixkla

Bixkla is the Maltese name for Briscola, the Italian trick-taking card game (Wikipedia: Brisca). It's played with a 40-card Italian deck: each player holds three cards, a turned-up card sets the trump suit, and you need 61 of the deck's 120 points to win (Wikipedia: Briscola). Bixkla is in the Games app on your in-game phone, against the computer, a friend or a quick match.

Tombla

Tombla is what Malta calls bingo, a game known for the way the numbers are called out and how seriously players watch their cards (Guide Me Malta). It comes from tombola, the lottery-style game from southern Italy where prizes go for lines of numbers and a full card (Wikipedia). Tombla is in the Games app as festa bingo in the parish hall: Line, Two lines, then Tombla!

Places

Valletta

Valletta is Malta's capital, built by the Knights of St John after the Great Siege of 1565 and named after Grand Master Jean de Valette. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980, and it's the smallest capital in the EU (Wikipedia). In Malta Living you can live in a Valletta house, and the fast ferry to Gozo leaves from below the Upper Barrakka.

Sliema

Sliema is a town on Malta's north-east coast, once a quiet fishing village and now a busy, pricey residential and resort town, with the seafront promenade, the shops around the Ferries and a ferry across to Valletta (Wikipedia). Sliema Promenade is one of the places on the game's map.

Paceville

Paceville is a district of St Julian's and Malta's main nightlife area, packed with clubs, bars, pubs and restaurants (Wikipedia). In the game it's where the nights out are, and where the nightlife career works.

Ta' Qali

Ta' Qali is an open area between Attard and Mosta: a former RAF airfield that now holds the national football stadium, a crafts village in the old military huts and a national park popular for picnics (Wikipedia). In Malta Living you'll find the National Stadium there, and Sunday Run Club Malta meets in the park.

Gozo

Gozo is the second-largest island in the Maltese archipelago, quieter and more rural than Malta, with regular ferries between Ċirkewwa on Malta and Mġarr on Gozo (Wikipedia). In the game you can take the ferry across, and a trip to Gozo is one of your Malta firsts.

Comino

Comino is the small island between Malta and Gozo, with only a couple of permanent residents. It's a bird sanctuary and nature reserve, famous for the clear water of the Blue Lagoon, and boats run from Ċirkewwa and Mġarr (Wikipedia). In Malta Living the Comino boat lands you at the Blue Lagoon's jetty.

Everyday Malta

Bonġu

Bonġu (say "bon-joo") is the Maltese for good day or good morning, close to the Italian buongiorno and the French bonjour (Guide Me Malta). In the game, Bonġu! is the island news app on your phone, and Say Bonġu is one of the quick chats on a person's card.

Identità

Identità is the Maltese government agency for identity documents: it issues ID cards and passports, keeps civil registers, and its Expatriates Unit issues residence documents to EU citizens and residence permits to people from outside the EU (identita.gov.mt). For anything real, check Identità's own site. In Malta Living, Identità is a place on the map where tourists and permit holders collect their residence card and apply for permits, open weekday mornings only.

Single permit

Malta's single permit is a temporary permit that lets someone from outside the EU live and work in Malta, tied to the employer named in the application (Identità: Single permit). The rules are Identità's to explain, so read their page for anything real. In the game, a tourist who wants to stay and work takes a job offer and the Pre-Departure Course, then applies at Identità.

Tallinja

Tallinja is the name of Malta's bus card and bus app, run by Malta Public Transport. With a personalised tallinja card you can ride most bus routes free, and the tallinja app plans trips and tracks buses (Malta Public Transport). In Malta Living the tallinja card is in Essentials, and Get around on your phone plans every trip.

Enemalta

Enemalta is Malta's electricity provider and network operator. To report a power cut you call 153 or use the form on its site, and it runs a live outage map (Enemalta). The game has its own Enemalta app, with the outage map and Report Power Cut, for when the lights go out.

ARMS

ARMS Ltd is the company Enemalta and the Water Services Corporation set up to handle their meter-to-cash work and customer contact, which is why Maltese electricity and water bills come from ARMS (ARMS: About us). Your ARMS bill in the game is in Essentials → Bills.

Mater Dei

Mater Dei is Malta's main public general hospital, in Msida beside the University of Malta. It opened in 2007, replacing St Luke's Hospital (Wikipedia). In Malta Living, let a need hit zero and you might faint and wake up at Mater Dei.

iGaming

iGaming means online gambling, and it's one of Malta's big industries: in 2004 Malta became the first EU country to bring in rules for remote gaming (Mondaq). Online gaming companies are licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority. In the game, iGaming is one of the careers, with work at SOHO.