슬롯사이트�Salam, ça va?슬롯사이트�: The Unique Linguistic Experience of Morocco

When I told people in my Arabic program back home that I was going to study abroad in Morocco, I received multiple warnings that I would struggle with the language here. Darija, the Moroccan dialect of Arabic, is notoriously different from other dialects, and even some native Arabic speakers struggle to understand it. It슬롯사이트�s influenced by Morocco슬롯사이트�s history of French colonialism and Spanish colonization before that, as well as by Tamazight, the language of the indigenous Amazigh people of North Africa. The grammar is a bit different, the vocabulary varies wildly, and everybody talks way too fast 슬롯사이트� that슬롯사이트�s what they told me.

And it슬롯사이트�s true슬롯사이트� sort of. Moroccans definitely talk quickly, and I don슬롯사이트�t know if I슬롯사이트�ll ever be able to keep up with the lightning-fast gossip of a group of Moroccan aunties, but Darija is not as challenging as I feared it would be. In fact, it슬롯사이트�s quickly become my favorite language I슬롯사이트�ve had the opportunity to learn.

After my time in Morocco, I슬롯사이트�ve become fascinated with the unique history of the Amazigh people. Many Americans have not heard of Amazigh people, and if they have, they know their more common name in English, which is actually a slur (I won슬롯사이트�t repeat it, but you can look it up). I had heard of them before I came here, but I never knew much about them, and the pride and excitement with which Amazigh people here talk about their culture is contagious.

The influence of Tamazight is heavily present in Darija. Many of the grammar rules, including the unique conjugation patterns, come from Tamazight, rather than Classical Arabic. There is a learning curve to adjust to these differences, but I believe that the rules that come from Tamazight are so much more intuitive and logical. There is also just something special about the meaning the presence of Tamazight carries.

I keep seeing one Tamazight letter everywhere: ⵣ, or 슬롯사이트�yaz,슬롯사이트� which also symbolizes freedom and Amazigh pride. When I bought a scarf for my mom in Southern Morocco, it had this symbol on it, and the seller took the time to tell me all about its meaning. I told him she might put it in her classroom because she슬롯사이트�s a teacher, and he was excited to hear that American children might learn about Tamazight. After I had bought it, he even invited me to tea.

While it may be harder for native speakers of Arabic, I슬롯사이트�ve found that in some ways, Darija is actually one of the easier dialects. Many words are familiar to anyone who has studied a Romance language in any capacity, or even just an English speaker. In many Arabic dialects, the word for family is 슬롯사이트�usra,슬롯사이트� but in Morocco, some Moroccans simply say 슬롯사이트�famila.슬롯사이트� Although these words come from an often violent and oppressive history, there is something comforting about their appearance in Darija now. There are times when I슬롯사이트�m speaking Darija, and I can슬롯사이트�t remember how to say a word, but if I know the word in French, Spanish, or even English, people might still know what I슬롯사이트�m thinking of because it슬롯사이트�s the same in Darija.

I슬롯사이트�ve never studied French, so I have only a passing knowledge of the language, and at times this did become a problem for me. English is not very commonly spoken in Morocco; even if people are proficient in the language, they don슬롯사이트�t tend to start with it. Most Moroccans look me over and decide I look more like someone who would speak French than someone who would speak Arabic, so they start speaking French to me. Once, I even told a taxi driver in Darija that I didn슬롯사이트�t understand French, and he refused to switch over to Arabic!

But usually, once I tell people that I speak Arabic, especially Darija, they are ecstatic. It슬롯사이트�s relatively rare to meet Westerners who speak Arabic, and even Arabs from other countries don슬롯사이트�t often speak Darija. It슬롯사이트�s a way of showing them that I슬롯사이트�m invested in their culture, and I슬롯사이트�m interested in learning from them. I sometimes wonder if being forced to code-switch out of your colloquial tongue to speak to foreigners leads people to feel like their own mother tongue is lesser. Taking the time to study Darija feels like telling Darija-speakers: your language matters, your community matters, and I care about helping you preserve it.

Author: Stella D슬롯사이트�Acquisto