Struggle with Moroccan Arabic!

United States
November 9, 2012 12:08pm CST
Salaam alaykum, fellow Arabic learners! I have attempted to learn Arabic several times, but I have only really been successful with the Jordanian dialect since I was able to live there for a few months and it is more similar to MSA. I spend a lot of time with Moroccans in my area, and I am so frustrated that I can barely understand them when they speak to each other! Have any of you had success with learning "standard Arabic" and then learning North African dialects? I am kinda giving up and usually just speak English with them and throw some standard words in here or there. But I need to practice or I'll lose what Arabic I do know! Thanks in advance!
1 person likes this
1 response
olivetree27
@olivetree27 (495)
• Greece
9 Nov 12
Arabic seems a difficult language. I want to learn Arabic too as I want to work in an Arabic country where grand hotels are located. I am studying in an international school where the students came from different countries. We have quite a lot of Arab students but most of them speaks fluent English and I never heard them speaking Arabic. Some of them speak french even if they're talking to their fellow Arabs. Is there a difference in the arabic language of every arab country?
habibti320
@habibti320 (925)
• United States
9 Nov 12
There are few main "types" of Arabic with different accents and regional vocabulary in each one. I have heard some linguists count 18 distinct varieties. North Africans tend to speak a mixture of French/Arabic/their own mix! Some of it is influenced by Berber languages. There is also the "Shams" Arabic which is spoken by Lebanese, Syrians, Jordanians, and Palestinians. Even they each have regional differences. There is "Khaliji" Arabic spoken in the Gulf (KSA, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Yemen...). The last one I've heard is spoken by Iraqis. I have friends from each of these places in my community and I get a headache trying to figure out each of them! I might be moving to Saudi Arabia in 2013 for a job at a university there, and I am trying to brush up on my skills. Why would you like to work in a hotel there? Do you know anybody who has had this experience? Best of luck!