Morocco is a place of amazing linguistic diversity. Road signs in and out of town, business signs, TV commercials, and products in stores display text in interesting combinations of Arabic, French, and English. There isn't any particular consistency to this. Some signs in Ifrane, for example, are only in Arabic; some appear to be only in French. Some businesses use English in their names, I assume in an attempt to attract the University crowd. Throw in the varieties of Berber that are spoken all over Morocco, and then the Spanish in some parts of the north of the country, and you have a beautiful but somewhat overwhelming combination of tongues.
It has become obvious to me that I won't get by very well with only English. I have not encountered anyone in town who knows English (with the possible exception of our cab driver yesterday who was able to tell us that our fare cost "ten dirhams" rather than "dix dirhams"). Merchants seem to naturally address anyone who appears to be a non-local with French. The only time we had been addressed in English, it was clear that someone was trying to get something (i.e. money) from us--what we would be giving them money for was rather unclear.
So...one of the decisions I need to make in the next few days is whether to take a French class or a colloquial Arabic class. French would be easier, and I would pick up on it more quickly. It would allow me to order food in restaurants and shop at the marche (still haven't figured out how to put an accent on that) and at the souk. But Arabic would be, in my opinion, more interesting. And while I can sometimes struggle through making sense of text written in French, of course there is no way for me to make any sense of written Arabic. And locals are generally very impressed by foreigners who can speak even a little Arabic. On Friday, when I thanked our van driver by saying "shukran," he excitedly asked, "You speak Arabic?" I felt I was disappointing him when I said, no, that was really the only word I knew.
T has already decided he will take an Arabic class first. Any advice on which language I should study this semester?
JABS,
ReplyDeleteI suggest that you take French while hubby learns Arabic. That way, it allows you guys greater versatality in communicating with the locals. Once you start learning French, then Spanish would make more sense to you. Hopefully, learning Arabic would be a gateway to learning at least the basics of the Berber dialects. And then, you guys as a couple, would have everything covered! Like Jack Spratt who couldn't eat fat, married to the woman who didn't eat lean. "And so betwix the two of them, they licked the platter clean."
CTD ...
ReplyDeleteOn the topic of licking the platter clean, are you both getting some nourishment?
I agree with Citrine--you two should split the language difference between you, bien sûr!
ReplyDeleteOui! Trés bonne! T parle Francais, et tu parles arabic! We miss you! I'm excited you decided to do a blog...it's a great way to chronicle the day-to-day that you might otherwise forget. (LS)
ReplyDeleteon a mac to make the é: Press option-e and then e again. Voila!