I've always found that putting as much effort into learning the lingo always pays back handsomely on a trip, but I am really having a hard time of learing Moroccan Arabic.

However my French is passable and would be easy to polish up. What has been people's experience? I guess I will be on the pistes quite a lot, so indeed, maybe Arabic may be foriegn to some, and I will have to be looking at Berber. Thats 3 more!!!

Just wondering how other people have got on?

Totally agree I always spend time learning some basic stuff before I go, and I find it really does make a difference.

For Moroc I learnt some basic Arabic which I did use occasionally, but generally French got me what I wanted. When all else failed, English and pen and paper pictures !

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Regards Tim

Learning my craft for the big stuff, it won't be long now and it's not that far anyway

Absolutely Arabic and if you can some Berber, using French is lazy and slightly arrogant imho. A lot of tourists resort to French because its easy and most Moroccans will speak French.

My French is limited to a few words and some phrases that are not entirely suitable in daily conversation so I try to pick up as much Arabic as I can. Even being able to say hello in Arabic gets a totally different response from the locals.

Berber is more tricky are there are many berber dialects, Tamazight is the generic Berber dialect across north Africa but in Morocco there are 4 or 5 local Berber dialects complicating things somewhat. So for example I've picked up some Taslehait which is predominantly a High Atlas Dialect, however in Zagora no one would understand it.

Another complication with languages is that the Moroccans don't all speak the same language, some Berbers (probably getting fewer nowadays) don't speak Arabic and Moroccan arabs won't speak Berber.

In tourist areas more and more locals speak English so a trip to Morocco can result in conversations in several languages, often at the same time.

The Rough Guide do a Moroccan Arabic Phrasebook that will get you started and cover most tourist type info

Oh and one last complication is Moroccan Arabic is a variation of classical Arabic so some words can be slightly different.

French was the most useful in every day situations. When I tried other languages, I was always asked for it in French! I learnt some straight forward Arabic greetings, but then French / English worked fine. No one seemed remotely put out by either language.

I was shopping in the Czech Republic once, and the woman serving me seemed to be the most grumpy person I'd ever met, looking at me like she'd stepped in something! When I asked her how to say thank you, and then used it with her, her face lit up. As with most things, if you make a little effort it can go a long way!

Darija (Moroccan Arabic) is totally different from Fus'ha (Moroccan Standard Arabic), but greeting and general phrases are fairly common throughout. I spent eight weeks in Fez learning Darija but spend most of my time in Berber areas for which I only know about 50 words. Again, though, Berbers use/speak many of the standard greeting exchanges.

Mime is the most useful so a background in charades is excellent, English is spoken amongst older people far more than you would expect.

My language page: Travel Vocabularies

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"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

what I don't find useful here is everyone's very different experiences. but what I really love is the same thing! Everyone seems to have a very different experience......

Isn't that the story of it all.....

I am listeing to it all though, so thanks. Will come up with my own version of events in the mean time!

I always found an arab greeting raised a smile, they seemed to appreciate it, then it was on with my terrible schoolboy french! basic arabic is useful but as above, french it seems is more widely understood. As mentioned above, most people appreciate it if you just make an effort, especially in tourist areas!

I remember a while back some guy on here getting terribly offended when I suggested using arabic, he complained loudly and aggressively that the language was French. Sadly the thread got closed before I had the opportunity to ask what he thought all that squiggly writing was on the signposts! Seemed like the worst of excolonial arrogance to me.

Even if you share not a common word if people want to communicate they will, but there will be some that will choose not to understand no matter how much of their language you speak.

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