Regional differences in darija (north, south, etc)?

Darija, Moroccan Arabic Forums - Forums de darija,
#1

Salam aleikum :relaxed:

Can someone help me understand the regional variations of darija, and how they are generally grouped together / referred to in educational resources?

I am learning darija to speak to my friends, and almost all of them are from Casablanca. So while I’m studying darija online/in books/etc, I know that I only want to focus on and learn the language used in Casa.

But often when reading resources on darija, they will give variations to words and explain which words/phrases are “Used primarily in the North”, etc, without describing which cities consist of the North.

When differences like this arise, do people in Casa and Rabat generally use the same vocabulary? How about people in Casa and Fes? Casablanca versus Tangier and Tetouan? When they say “The North”, do they mean all of Casa/Rabat/Fes/Tangier/Tetouan? Is Marrakech considered in the south? And other such questions :sweat_smile:

I am definitely curious about different cities as well, but my primary goal is definitely to be able to understand and speak to my friends, and I don’t want to study vocabulary that I then have to re-learn (or even worse, decide not to study certain words because I don’t know which is the “right” one to memorize)

CHOKRANNNN my friends <3 Thank you in advance for your help.

1 Like
#2

Hello there,

Certainly The vocabulary of Dariga differ from city to a city but rest assured the If you learn any word your friends will still be able to understand you. When we say the north we mainly talk about the following cities ‘Tangier, Tetouan, Hoceima, Nador’. I’m from the south ‘Taroudant’ and this city along side other cities are called ‘Souss’. People from Casa and Rabat they use the same vocabulary. In fes they differ but just a little bit due to fes being close to The north.

I hope this helps