Moroccan Darija Lessons: what is the best way to learn Darija (Moroccan Arabic)?
So, you’re interested in learning more about Moroccan Darija and maybe even taking Moroccan Darija lessons. You might have googled the best way to learn Moroccan Darija or possibly even tried to find an online translator like Google Translate to help you navigate the language.
You’ll learn very quickly that Moroccan Darija is a tough language to learn. Not only is it very different from Modern Standard Arabic, but it also lacks the established training materials of many other languages. It is only spoken by about 30 million people natively, and it is largely a blend of other languages, including Berber/Tamazight, Latin, French, Spanish, and others.
Adding to the confusion is that Modern Darija lacks a strictly formal writing system and borrows largely from Modern Standard Arabic and, for online conversation, from Latin characters. This means that sometimes numbers are substituted for sounds that aren’t available in traditional Latin characters (as in the number 7 for ح or the sound of a throaty “hah” or the number 3 for ع or “uh”).
Why is Moroccan Darija so hard to learn?
Well, for one reason, the two different ways that Darija is written make it particularly difficult for foreigners to learn. Unlike French or German, the Arabic language is quite far off from the English alphabet. Plus it’s written backward. This also means that Darija learners will need to learn the Latinized Darija, the Arabic Darija, or both.
For example:
English– I’m excited to learn Darija!
Arabic – أنا متحمسة لتعلم العربية
Darija Latinized – Ana mt7mssa bach nt3alam larbiya
See how that gets complicated fast?
Not to mention that words can be written in many different Latinized variations.
For example, the spelling for “thank you” in Darija is شكرًا. But in Latinized Darija it’s:
- Shokran
- Shukran
- Chokran
- Chukran
- Choukran
And more, I’m sure. There isn’t much standardization because it’s not a Latin language. So you can see the same sentence with seemingly endless variations of the same few words, and again, it gets complicated.
Okay, so it’s difficult, but I can still teach myself Moroccan Darija lessons, right?
Moroccan Darija is extremely hard to teach yourself for several reasons. The lack of training materials for the language is one primary reason. But another reason is that, particularly for English speakers, the way Darija is written does not sound like it is spoken. This makes informal education and self-learning very difficult. The closest thing to a published manual on the language is the 2011 Peace Corps Textbook, but it is far from exhaustive.
Another tricky thing to consider, particularly for English speakers, is that there are many sounds in Darija that are very difficult to pronounce, especially without a lot of practice. There is often an unintuitive emphasis on syllables that can only really be learned by hearing it, speaking it, and receiving instruction from a teacher or tutor. Moroccan Darija Lessons tend to be more important than traditional lessons for other languages.
Is Darija a language or a dialect of Modern Standard Arabic? Can I just learn Modern Standard Arabic instead of Darija?
Moroccan Darija has similar words to Modern Standard Arabic, but some are completely different. This can make it exceptionally hard for Moroccans to communicate with, say, Egyptians or Tunisians. So learning MSA and hoping it will suffice in the country may leave the Moroccans you’re trying to communicate with confused.
So how are you supposed to find Moroccan Darija lessons?
Many people who successfully learn the language do so through private lessons. Students can take these lessons either in person or online. There are lots of classes offered on an individual basis, online group or individual courses, and other opportunities. They can be a little bit tricky to find, so we’ve created a list of our favorite Moroccan Darija lessons, teachers, and classes, and how to contact them.
And the good news is that there are more resources now than ever before to help you supplement your Moroccan Darija education.
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