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Sarah Obeid

Professor Rieman

ENGL 1103

December 5th, 2010

What are the Challenges Faced by the Moroccan People That Cause Them to Lack Strong

Reading and Writing Skills in Universal, Standard Arabic?

The Arabic language ( ), deriving from the Aramaic script, is one language

like no other. The general Arabic language is so unique in style, consists of twenty eight letters,

and is written and read from right to left. Modern Standard Arabic, or Fusha (the term in Arabic),

is the universal language that all Arabic speakers should be able to speak and understand, but the

older generations actually know it. The older generations know Modern Standard Arabic much

more simply because the younger generation of today does not like to use it and prefers speaking

in their dialectal language.Modern Standard Arabic is well known across the entire Arab worldand is usually spoken in formal television shows, speeches, lectures, etc. However, all Arabic

countries have their own particular dialects (Ager 1). In specific, Morocco, a country located in

Northern Africa, has a dialect called Darija that is much more different than any other Arabic

dialect out there. Also, when compared to Darija, learning Modern Standard Arabic is very

complex in terms of grammar and sentence structure. Considering this, Darija plays a huge role

in hindering the development of reading and writing skills in Modern Standard Arabic for the

Moroccan people, specifically the younger generations. Not only is Darija a limiting factor, but

so is the idea of outside influences. Morocco has been greatly influenced by French culture and

history since 1903. Because of this, Moroccan people, especially young women, love to use

French as it is the countrys second language. The extreme want to use a mix of French and


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Darija, or maybe even French alone, causes a significant drop in Modern Standard Arabic

literacy rates.

Imagine trying to learn a language but then struggling through confusion because friends

who may speak that language are using a slang or dialect. Last summer, I was in Morocco on a

Summer Language Study Abroad trip through the State Department. I stayed with a host family

and my siblings only spoke Darija and or French. I was trying to learn Modern Standard Arabic

at the private school I attended. When I would go back to my sisters home after school, they

were never able to speak Modern Standard Arabic with me. For instance, I would always ask

them what a word meant in MSA and they would always say We only know Darija. This is the

most likely the case because MSA and Darija are completely dissimilar from each other. For

instance, in MSA, the word for A lot is Katheer and in Darija, the word for A lot is

Bezaff (Harrell 368). Basically, trying to learn a dialect is like trying to learn a whole new

other language. According to UNESCO, currently in Morocco, 51.2 percent of the people are

illiterate in Modern Standard Arabic (Maamouri 3). The need for learning Modern Standard

Arabic is most certainly a must. Students of today need to learn MSA to be successful in school,

to help people trying to learn MSA, to communicate to people in any Arabic country, to learn

basic grammar, and to get easily acquainted with other dialects.

The story of my Moroccan host sisters conveys that this statistic is indeed true. My very

own host sisters can afford to attend school and are focused and smart in their studies, but they

still struggle in the class of Modern Standard Arabic. This goes to show that people who either

dont grow up learning MSA, but instead only Darija, or do not have access to getting an


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education to learn MSA, are certainly not going to have high literacy skills in MSA and will have

much trouble learning this universal language. Modern Standard Arabic is highly important for

Moroccan kids to know and understand. The simple idea of being a success in school should be

enough for these kids to want to learn Modern Standard Arabic, to get the A plus in MSA class.

In addition, if Moroccans as well other Arabs from other countries, know MSA, than they can

help others who want to speak MSA. A lot of people who visit other countries or study abroad

study MSA and like to go around using MSA until they actually get comfortable with using the

countries dialect. If a Moroccan wants to go to Jordan, for example, he or she most certainly

cannot use Darija because the Jordanians would not be able to understand half of what they

speak. My father had a Moroccan friend and he had trouble many times understanding what he

was saying. When my father would speak with my Moroccan host father, my father couldnt

understand some of his words and could hear him throw in some French words. This puts a

strain on the relationships between Arabs from different countries because of the colloquial

dialectal problem. MSA is useful for this reason. If all Arabs, not just Moroccans, can understand

how to speak MSA, than they can go to any other Arabic country and be able to speak to

everyone and not have to worry about dialectal confusions. Yes, the grammar is challenging, but

it is a skill that Moroccan students should learn in order for them to read and write properly in

school. As an extra benefit to Fusha, by knowing Fusha alone, the Arabic speaker can better get

to know other dialects. If an Arab already knows Modern Standard Arabic, than it will be a little

easier to pick up on other dialects, considering all Arabic dialects derived from MSA.

Fusha, or MSA, is used for high functions, commonly practiced in formal prayers,

television shows, speeches, or lectures, while Darija is used for low functions, such as discourse


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between families and friends. This causes a linguistic gap between both the literacy language and

the dialectal language, also known as diglossia (Rochdi 6). According to Dr. Maamouri, The

mixture of language patterns in the classrooms (Fusha and dialectal Arabic code-switching) is a

cause of serious pedagogical problems (5). Since Moroccan students constantly use Darija at

home, when they come to class, they naturally mix both MSA and Darija. Because Fusha is not a

part of the Moroccans everyday discourse with family and friends, trying to learn MSA forms

and structures and speak the language is way too difficult. They struggle with learning the

connections between the sounds of their oral language at home and the written language learned

at school. According to Dr. Maamouri, Young and adult Arab readers cannot put their inherent

native linguistic competence in colloquial Arabic to task. They cannot use their lexical

familiarity with their native basic Arabic sounds, forms, structures, and syllabic, and prosodic

features because these are not necessarily identical with Fusha forms and structures, even though

they may show some important and striking similarities (6-7). It is too difficult for younger

generations now to take what they know, in this case being Darija, and trying to use it to help

them in Fusha. There are similarities between Fusha and Darija. One of these is the original

Arabic sounds of the letters and the words. What makes it so hard is the fact that the syntax

forms of Fusha differ from the forms of Darija, as well as the actual words of both languages.

I cannot even begin to emphasize how very intricate the grammar, forms, and structure of

Modern Standard Arabic is. As a quick, basic understanding, the consonant letters of the Arabic

language each have three or four distinct shapes depending on where the letter is located in the

word, and use several diacritical forms for speaking purposes (Ager 1). There are three letters,

alif, waaw, and yaa, which act as long vowels, while there are four markings called, fatha,


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domeh, kasra, hamza and shadda, which act as short vowel sounds that provide pronunciation.

All are used for lexical differentiations. Beyond letters, sentences can be structured in a couple

ways. One way a sentence can be written is using Subject-Verb-Object, like English, and a

sentence can also be written using Verb-Subject-Object. Dr. Maamouri states, This is the bulk

of the grammatical system and is therefore extremely important in setting up functions leading to

correct reading and acceptable text understanding (8). Ahmed youheb al bint, means that

Ahmed, the boy, likes the girl. This represents the first way a sentence can be written. Youheb

Ahmed al bint, means that Ahmed likes the girl also, only the sentence literally says Likes

Ahmed the girl. The Arabic reading process is by far really tough. Gender also plays a role in

this reading process. For example, take the four letters KTBT. This can be read in five different

ways and can have five different meanings depending on the context and whom the word is

referring. For example, here is the past tense of the verb KATABA. Katabtu means I wrote,

Katabta means You (Sing. Masc.) wrote, Katabti means You (Sing. Fem.) wrote, Katabat

means She wrote, and lastly, Kutibat means It (Sing. Fem) was written (Maamouri 9). This

goes for any kind of verb in the past tense, another one of these verbs being DARASA , which

means to study. Even further, Modern Standard Arabic does not allow consonant clusters, while

Moroccan Darija does. This is the challenging part. In Fusha, the word Marid means sick, but

in Darija the word for sick is Mrid (Harrell 388). Some of the words in Darija sound similar to

Fusha, but are spoken and read faster (Rochdi 19-20). My father told me that when he was in

college, even some of his own native Arabic speaking friends would fail Arabic class. This helps

convey that the Moroccan people have a hard time in learning to read and write Modern Standard


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Arabic, not only because Fusha is very hard, but also because not all of the language of Darija is

similar to Fusha. In fact, Darija could be considered a language of its own.

During my stay in Morocco, I would often watch my host sisters chat to their friends and

relatives through their cell phones or Facebook. About 85 percent of the time, they would usually

speak using the language of French. Also, Moroccan girls feel like they are more French than

Moroccan. After all, French is considered to be a beautiful sounding language. The entire

country overall thinks it is French. French culture can be seen everywhere throughout Morocco.

There are famous French fortresses, walls, and buildings, restaurants, and shops. My host sister

Douae told me without a doubt, Sarah, French everything is a part of our Moroccan culture.

That is something that makes us who we are. This is the case because of the French dominance

of Morocco in 1903 which heavily influenced the people thereafter. The French language

became what is now known as the countries second language. In addition to Darija and Fusha,

the Moroccan kids learn French in school as well. Simpson claims, In private schools and in the

French mission, French is also predominant (51). A lot of wealthy Moroccan parents are not

open to and not in favor of the public school systems in Morocco; therefore, they put their

children in private French schools in order for them to learn French. From here, the parents hope

that learning the French language will help their kids with future job prospects. Moroccans

believe that knowing French fluently will help increase their chances in gaining access to jobs in

a variety of fields. With this being said, Moroccan kids are obviously going to not only converse

with others in Darija, but also in French or a mix of the two, which is what they do often.

Because of all the French culture, history, and language in the country, the Moroccans struggle in

having strong literacy skills in Modern Standard Arabic.


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The challenges that the Moroccans face are as follows. The French influence, the

complexity of Modern Standard Arabic (Fusha), and Darija being a totally different dialect from

all other Arabic dialects all contribute to Moroccos low MSA literacy rates. The dialect of

Darija, the language of conversation, free expression, and everyday communication differs from

the universal language of formal reading and writing, Modern Standard Arabic.


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WORKS CITED

Ager, Simon. Omniglot Writing Systems and Languages of the World. Np. 1998-2010. Web.

November 11, 2010

Harrell, Richard S.A Basic Course in Moroccan Arabic with MP3 Files. Washington, DC:

Georgetown University Press. 2006. Print

Maamouri, Dr. Mohamed. Arabic Literacy. D Scope- Citeseer (2003): 5-9. Database. Web. 7

October 2010.

Oxford University Press. Andrew Simpson. Language and National Identity in Africa. New

York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2008. Print.

Rochdi, Aicha. Developing Preliteracy Skills Via Shared Book Reading: The Effect of

Linguistic Distance in a Diglossic Context.Dissertation Abstracts International, B:

Sciences and Engineering2010: 1-163.ProQuest. Web. 2 Nov. 2010.

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