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Maghrebi Arabic, Darija? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| nebojats Triglot Groupie United States Joined 5197 days ago 89 posts - 120 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Thai Studies: French, Arabic (Written), Mandarin, Italian | Message 1 of 8 03 September 2010 at 5:28am | IP Logged |
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As I understand it, most North African countries speak a local dialect of Arabic (sometimes referred to as Darija or Maghrebi Arabic), standard Arabic, French, Berber, and other local languages.
Disregarding all the other languages, how mutually intelligible is Maghrebi Arabic? Can a Moroccan, Tunisian, Algerian, and Libyan hold a conversation? Thank you! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| loveroflanguage Groupie United States Joined 5367 days ago 57 posts - 83 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Arabic (Egyptian) | Message 2 of 8 08 September 2010 at 4:52am | IP Logged |
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Darija is unique as a dialect and can be confusing even to other Arabs! Most Algerians can understand Darija because many of them fled to Morocco during the wars and because they are so close, just natural immigration between the two; and back and forth visiting. You will meet many families that are Moroccan in origin but their mother married an Algerian who immigrated to Morocco. For a long time, Morocco had a real bad HATE for Algerian and Tunisians, which has subsided for the most part except for a few people who remember (old people). Tunisians can adapt quick and because they are considered part of "Al Maghreb", a lot of them know Darija or of it, but most of them don't or can't really speak it unless they hang around a lot of Moroccans. Libyans, on the other hand, from what I know, do not understand it unless, like the Algerians and Tunisians, have some connection by immigration or family, which is rare.
If you decide to learn it, it is almost impossible to learn it here because there are no books or resources except what the polyglot Prof. from Georgetown University did in the 60's before his death--which I don't know why on earth they haven't updated or continued on his work. Most people I know, learn it IN Morocco at the schools there or confine themselves to only talking, eating and hanging out with Moroccans, lol. And prepare for no other Arabs will understand you. They can pick out a word here and there but because of the mix of Spanish, heavy French, heavy Berber and Arabic, it is hard for them. Edited by loveroflanguage on 08 September 2010 at 4:58am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| nebojats Triglot Groupie United States Joined 5197 days ago 89 posts - 120 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Thai Studies: French, Arabic (Written), Mandarin, Italian | Message 3 of 8 27 September 2010 at 2:10pm | IP Logged |
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Loveroflanguage,
Thanks much for your response. Very useful! So you define Darija as the Moroccan dialect and say that Algerians can easily understand, Tunisians can understand with a little effort, and that Libyans most likely won't be able to understand Moroccans right off the bat. I'm pretty sure at this point that I have a decent grasp of how many people in various countries can understand Moroccan and Algerian Arabic. I haven't really found much information on Tunisian and Libyan. If one can speak Tunisian or Libyan, where can one travel and be understood? TUNISIAN AND LIBYAN!!! Any ideas? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| layla_n Triglot Newbie United States Joined 5335 days ago 2 posts - 10 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), Arabic (Egyptian) | Message 4 of 8 27 September 2010 at 9:50pm | IP Logged |
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I knew someone from Tunisia who, when he spoke "pure" Tunisian, was practically impossible to understand, at least for Arabs from the Mashreq. So when he spoke with Egyptians or Jordanians, he would alter his speech to a combination of Egyptian and Levantine Arabic, and this made him perfectly understandable.
As for Libyans, I've heard that western Libyan Arabic is more similar to Maghrebi Arabic, while the eastern dialect is more similar to Egyptian. So it probably depends on the exact kind of Libyan Arabic in question. In any case, I doubt they'd have trouble being understood outside Libya; either they'd speak a dialect close to Egyptian, or they could just modify how they talk. In any case, the basic answer to your question is that native speakers of Maghrebi Arabic are perfectly capable of traveling and being understood outside North Africa; they'd just modify their dialect. You may also find this discussion useful. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| daristani Senior Member United States Joined 7145 days ago 752 posts - 1661 votes Studies: Uzbek | Message 5 of 8 19 October 2010 at 8:39pm | IP Logged |
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For those interested, I see that Georgetown University Press is going to publish a new introduction to Moroccan Arabic this December. A page providing information on the book is available here:
http://www.press.georgetown.edu/detail.html?session=47637cc3 dfba82340284576860154ad5&id=9781589016934 Here's the table of contents, as available from the page cited: Preface Letters, words, and sounds 1. Getting Acquainted 2. Getting Acquainted 3. The Family 4. The Family 5. Time 6. Daily Activities 7. Public and Private Spaces 8. Shopping 9. At the Restaurant 10. In the City 11. Traveling 12. Geography and Weather 13. Ramadan and 'achoura 14. Clothes and Celebrations How this will compare with the older book on Moroccan Arabic cited above ("A Basic Course in Moroccan Arabic" by Richard S. Harrell et al), also published by Georgetown, I can't say, although it appears to me from the above table of contents that the newer book is, as is often the case these days, more focused on "getting around" in various situations in daily life than on grammar. It's also unclear whether Georgetown will continue to sell the earlier book. In any event, people interested in that particular variety of Arabic will apparently soon have another instructional source to work with. By the way, here's a forum on Moroccan Arabic which has a host of references to other materials for Moroccan Arabic: http://www.speakmoroccan.com/forum/viewforum.php?id=13 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| translator2 Senior Member United States Joined 6920 days ago 848 posts - 1862 votes Speaks: English* | Message 6 of 8 19 October 2010 at 8:48pm | IP Logged |
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Moroccan Arabic Book Edited by translator2 on 19 October 2010 at 8:48pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| nebojats Triglot Groupie United States Joined 5197 days ago 89 posts - 120 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Thai Studies: French, Arabic (Written), Mandarin, Italian | Message 7 of 8 20 October 2010 at 9:08am | IP Logged |
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Hey, thanks for posting the resources!
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| JonQ Pentaglot Newbie Finland Joined 5427 days ago 1 posts - 1 votes Speaks: Swedish*, Finnish, English, Spanish, Galician Studies: French, German, Flemish, Portuguese, Maltese, Russian, Arabic (Maghribi) | Message 8 of 8 10 November 2010 at 8:24am | IP Logged |
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This forum is excellent: http://www.speakmoroccan.com/forum/viewforum.php?id=13
And here's a free booklet for learning Moroccan Darija, plus other resources: http://friendsofmorocco.org/learnarabic.htm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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