The Kingdom of Morocco is a country suitable for any kind of holiday. Tourists are expected here and spacious beaches on the Atlantic coast, and the exotic charm of ancient cities, and excellent Maghreb cuisine, and even a ski resort in the mountains of the Great Atlas. The official languages in Morocco are Arabic and Tamazight, and the most popular foreign language in the kingdom is French.
Some statistics and facts
- Of the 32 million people living in Morocco, 60% are Arabs and about 40% are Berbers. There are no more than 60 thousand Europeans among the citizens of the country.
- About 12 million Moroccans speak Berber, which spans three dialects.
- In northern Morocco, in the Gibraltar region, you can often hear Spanish.
- French, although not the official language of Morocco, is nevertheless the main language in business and economics and is widely used in the scientific and educational fields.
- Colloquial Arabic in the Maghreb countries differs significantly from the Arabic literary, which is adopted in the kingdom as the state language.
Originally from the Atlas Mountains
At least 5 million citizens of Morocco are fluent in the Tamazight language, officially recognized as the state language. It belongs to the Atlas group and is distributed mainly in the northern regions of Morocco. For writing in Tamazight, the Arabic alphabet was used for a long time, until the ancient Libyan letter Tifinagh was officially adopted.
Moroccan arabic
The official Arabic language of Morocco is literary, but the inhabitants of the country prefer the usual local spoken dialect. In the vocabulary, a large number of borrowings from French and Spanish and from Berber dialects are noticeable. Versions of spoken Arabic are slightly different depending on the region of the country.
Tourist notes
English in Morocco is not very common, and even in tourist and resort areas, it is very difficult to meet hotel staff or a waiter in a restaurant with knowledge of English. The years spent by the kingdom under the protectorate of France affect absolutely everything and it is better to enlist the support of a professional guide-translator for trips to Moroccan sights. In large travel agencies of the country, you can even find a Russian-speaking guide.
