Moroccans love to talk. Hours are spent every day conversing in cafés, on street corners, outside doorways, through windows, at shop counters, on telephones. There is no shortage of conversation and anyone and everyone is welcome to put their oar in. modern standard Arabic is the official language of Morocco found in newspapers and magazines, but is not the every day Moroccan spoken on the street. Morocco has its own dialect called d-darija, which has different grammar and vocabulary from official Arabic. Intellecuals frowns upon it as being an inferior language and consider it fine for everyday chat but not worthy of sophisticated discoure. It is, however, the most useful language to learn.
There different dialects of native berber or Amazigh, make up Morocco?s unofficial second language, spoken mainly in rural areas by around a third of all Moroccans either exclusively or bilingually with d-darija. Berber has no alphabet of its own, but uses a mix of Roman and Arabiiic, there is no standard system for writing Berber and it is disimilar to any other tongue. Desoite Berbers being the indigenous people of Morocco, the language had no official status until 2003 when the government allowed it to be taught in schools alongside European languages.the king, being half Berber himself, has geatly aided the indigenous cause. He was instrumental in setting up a Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture, opened in an excllusive part of Rabat, which inhabit the culture, such as the stipulation that all Moroccan children must given Arabic first names.
The average educated Moroccan also speaks French. It is the language of busness, refinement and sophistication in Morocco and some westernised Moroccan?s in cosmopolitan cities such as Casablanca and Rabat choose to speak only French. It is the country?s official second language, taught to children at primary school and written, along with Arabic, on most road signs and shop?s façades. Foreigners are normally addressed in French and it is assumed that the majority will be able to reply.Many Moroccans in the north of the country spaek Spanish while English, though lagging behind, is gradually, thanks to the internet, films and music, becoming the preferred language of the educated youth with a recent government drive to promote it in schools and universities. Though English is far down the pecking order; it would be unusual to find yourself in a situation where someone close by did not speak a smattering of phrases. Most Moroccans are vey keen to speak English and there are ample opportunities for providing English lessons or reciprocal arrangements such as teaching English in return of Arabic.