Recommendations for studying Arabic in Marrakech

Hello there!

I am planning to take a Modern Standard Arabic course in Morocco and I would like to do it in Marrakech for 2 months. I am a complete beginner to Arabic and I would like to get some recommendations regarding which institution I should enrolled in. It would be nice if you can recommend a good school with reasonable price.

Looking forward to hear from you guys.

But Moroccans do not speak Modern Standard Arabic. They speak Darija and several Berber dialects.
You might do just as well to take a course in your home country, or some other Arabic speaking country.

David, in Jordan they told me that Darija is mix of Arabic and French, is it true?

No. It's better described as a Arabic with the vowel-swallowing characteristics of the Berber dialects.

However... there are many modern words that had no equivalent in Darija such as restaurant (because everyone ate at home), so French and Spanish words have been adopted. Ristora for restaurant (could be either French or Spanish origin), semana (Spanish) for week.

I would recommend ALIF in Fez for language courses, see http://www.alif-fes.com/ . I did a six-week course there in Darija. Fez and the surrounding area has a lot more to offer than Marrakech if you are going to be there for several weeks.

thanks, Tim

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