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| morinkhuur Triglot Groupie Germany Joined 4488 days ago 79 posts - 157 votes  Speaks: German*, Latin, English Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Maghribi) | Message 1 of 4 12 January 2013 at 12:32am | IP Logged |
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Hello Everyone!
I have been studying Modern Standard Arabic on and off for some years now, and I would say I have reached a low intermediate level by now. I can understand written news articles with some effort and the help of a dictionary but I only understand one word every few sentences on news channels like al-jazeera. This summer I am going to travel to Morocco and I thought maybe I could put my Arabic to some use there. As far as I have heard though, most Moroccans don't speak MSA so I would like to learn some Darija before going. I have read that the Maghrebi dialects are not as difficult as they are made out to be, showing large differences to other dialects only in phonology, so I thought it might be doable. But is it possible to get the basics down in only 5 months of low-level study with a bit of previous MSA knowledge? I am definitely planning to learn both Moroccan and Egyptian dialect one day in any case, but I was wondering if this is the right time to start considering my rather basic understanding of the standard language or if I should rather try to get along in French (which I do not speak very well)? I have already read through this thread which has a similar topic but slightly different starting conditions and found some potential Darija resources there. If I do start studying, are there any resources (in English or German) that are particularly useful to or specifically designed for learners taking the step from MSA to dialect? Edited by morinkhuur on 12 January 2013 at 12:35am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Jappy58 Bilingual Super Polyglot Senior Member United States Joined 4449 days ago 200 posts - 413 votes Speaks: Spanish*, Guarani*, Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Maghribi), Arabic (Written), French, English, Persian, Quechua, Portuguese Studies: Modern Hebrew | Message 2 of 4 12 January 2013 at 2:39am | IP Logged |
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It depends on what you mean by "basics". In general, learning how to ask for directions, ask about food, greetings, family, etc. could certainly be doable in five months, with the right resources, but it will be somewhat difficult.
Yes, the Maghrebi dialects are not as dramatically divergent as some make them out to be - it is indeed the phonology (not the grammar, or even vocabulary) that makes it most difficult to understand relative to other dialects, although a higher percentage of Berber loan words also contributes (to a lesser extent than the phonology). However, it is still challenging. I would recommend continuing your studies of MSA, while using the resources you like best (I believe I and others listed some on that thread you gave a link to) to pick up at least some Darija. Knowing some basic French will be helpful, but if you have a long term interest in the region, Darija is the way to go due to its dominance in domestic life. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| ragnar1230 Newbie United States studygreek.wordpress Joined 4295 days ago 15 posts - 20 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 3 of 4 12 January 2013 at 11:26pm | IP Logged |
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My wife lived in Casablanca from 2003-2007, and I showed her your question. She said that it depends on where you're going - in the cities, most people will be able to understand MSA (although probably not speak it) and people will also speak French. In the countryside, however,people will seldom understand French or MSA. In fact, even Darija will only take you so far - they speak mainly Berber dialects (Tashelhite and Tamazight). There's some English, and also Spanish in the north.
However, she also said that, as a general rule, the Moroccans were eager to help her understand, and were very pleased with her attempts at Arabic (she mainly spoke French for business while she was there). She says it would definitely be worthwhile to work on some Darija before you go, although she didn't know of any specific resources to point you to (she studied Arabic in language classes once she was in-country). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| morinkhuur Triglot Groupie Germany Joined 4488 days ago 79 posts - 157 votes Speaks: German*, Latin, English Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Maghribi) | Message 4 of 4 13 January 2013 at 6:40pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks a lot for your answers!
I think I'll get one of those Darija books as i do have a "long term interest in the region". I had planned to continue with my MSA studies in any case so I'm just going to do both from now on. I did know that there are regions in Morocco were Arabic is not the majority language, but I don't think that's going to be a problem because there are few places where no one would understand it at all. I hope to get to a level that's more than just phrasebook phrases and to reach that goal I'll probably need to study a lot with a special focus on listening but I think it might be doable. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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