I actually went to the trouble to do a course in Irish Gaelic on the basis that it might be 'handy' in those circumstances.

I think I might need to retake the course as I can't remember a word of it.:(

I was being slightly tongue in cheek but when necessary it absolutely does work:-)
I can string a sentence or two together and 99.9% of the world population have zero idea in identifying what language it is or where you are from. And as they say time is money in this scenario so they quickly get bored, or give up and move on:thumbup1:

First time I ever went to Morocco I hadn't been that long out of school so could still remember a few bits of the five years of Latin I'd been taught. I went with a friend from the same class in school so we could exchange a few faux Latin phrases between us. Did it work? No not really but it did stop a few of them for a minute or so before they worked out we were talking in some dialect of Italian.

Latin did help a little trying to ask for stuff in Italy. It was better than English out in the countryside anyway.

Wear what you want, you cannot hide yourself because even if you ride in an old Djellaba with wornout Sandals on the shittiest bike ever Morrocans will smell against the wind in a second that you are a foreigner.

Best prep for Morocca beside getting a nice tan is knowing phrases in french and arabic. Morrocans are very talented in learning phrases in any language because they are by culture doggy salesmen. So better to talk in their language to avoid boring sales phrase conversations in your language. Have in mind that about 30% of moroccans are analphabets, so letting them reading a digital translation doesn`t work sometimes.

Buy a phrase book or use an online translator to learn. Will help you much more because Marrocans love to talk you. In all smaller towns or villages you will receive a lot of hospitality if you are willing to communicate. Sure prices for you will always be a little higher but this is imho fine because it will be still cheap for you.

In general morrocan tourist police in bigger touristic towns will always help you with any kind of problems. The only problem with these guys is that they don`t wear uniforms and that they often ride faster motorcycles than an average morrocan.

Kids who are throwing stones after you are in some areas a problem. Be attentive of crowds of kids hanging near by roads.

Morrocco has great landscapes, a tourist infrastructure for every wallet, a nice mixture of french and arabic culture. They offer really delicious food, try out morrocan cuisine as much as you can, you won`t regret it. If you are around the coast, go visiting industrial habors areas and checkout seafood restaurants for locals which are always located around the areas of the gates.

Even better learn some of the 5 Amazigh dialects, French will get you by, but Arabic or Amazigh will get a much better response from the locals.

Unfortunately the stone throwing and aggressive begging in some areas is a result of irresponsible travellers.

I blame the hippies. When I first went there the 'Marrakesh Express' was still taking them en masse to the promised land. When everything is 'far out man' they must have been easy pickings for the Moroccans - especially with very little in the way of 'consumer regulations' to restrict some of the more 'enthusiastic' sales techniques. Stone throwing if you didn't buy, or even as an encouragement to buy, was std practice when I went there in 1970. My crash helmet still has the dents to prove it.