The weather is changing around us, with trees steadily shedding their yellow leaves, and the Polish landscape is ever changing, from summer’s green, to the present oranges, reds and browns.

Let’s look at some expressions and idioms relating to this colourful season, where we are starting to cuddle up by the fireside at night!

IDIOM: Turn over a new leaf
DEFINITION: To forget the past and begin again.
EXAMPLE: You should think about the mistakes which you have made in th past, and not make them again, and turn over a new leaf.

I: Autumn years
D: These are the years following a person’s middle age
E: He decided to passion his passion for drawing in his autumn years.

I: To squirrel something away
D: Just like a squirrel hides nuts to find it again in the winter, this means to hide something so that you can find it later
E: He liked to squirrel away a little bit of money for when the grandchildren came over!

I: The apple of someone’s eye
D: Something or someone who is loved more than others
E: Since her husband died, her dog Fido has been the apple of her eye.

I: To make hay while the sun shines
D: To do something while the condition is optimal.
E: While the children are at school, I will do some cleaning. It’s always good to make hay while the sun shines.

I: Indian summer
D: A particularly warm autumn
E: At 25 degrees in late October, it was really an Indian Summer

Chestnuts are a common feature of Autumn (Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

I: Old chestnut (UK)
D: A story or a joke which has stopped being funny because it has been told so many times.
E: That old chestnut of a joke has stopped being funny.

I: Lost in the mists of time
D: If something happened such a long time ago, that everything about it has been forgotten
E: The exact words we spoke on the first date with my wife has been lost in the mists of time.

English is one of two national languages on the island. The other is a language few people even know exists, despite the fact that it is an officially recognised language of the European Union.

Maltese is a semitic tongue, meaning it is a kind of Arabic dialect which proliferated on the Eastern basin of the Mediterranean sea. Over the centuries, it has picked up a lot of foreign vocabulary, mainly Italian, French (the Maltese word for good morning is Bonġu, which sounds similar to the French Bonjour) and English.

The language therefore sounds very much like modern Arabic, and native speakers of either of the two languages would be able to communicate with some difficulty.

Maltese is the only Semitic language written in Latin script. The alphabet contains 30 letters and is one of three in the world which contains the letter “Ż”, the others being Polish and Kashubian.

Although a 2004 study said that 86% of the Maltese would rather speak in Maltese, and 12% English, the level of Maltese among the younger generation is widely considered to be in decline.

For a taste of what Maltese language sounds like, watch this video clip of a news item on the local TV channel about ricotta ice-cream!