A few words of Arabic

[Two wheels good]

Hi

A few words of Arabic - or even better , Berber - goes a long way in Morocco. It makes such a good impression with the locals, helps deter the touts and can even appease officaldom.

I couldn't put a complete sentence together but the following few words broke a lot of ice.

A typical greeting

greeting : salam-a-leikum - Hello \ Peace be with you
response : aleikum-a-salam - Hello \ Peace be with you
greeting : laabas - How are you
response : laabas, hamdillah - Fine, thank God
greeting : becher - Fine
response : becher
Easy! - just repeat what the other guy says!

Mah-Salamah - Goodbye
Wacka - Yes, Okay
La - No
La, Shukran - No, Thank you. (very useful!)
Not to be confused with: La shukran 'la wezhb - You're welcome. But the tourist doen't use this much.

Saha - Thank you (Berber)
Shukran - Thank you (Arabic)
Shukran shereef - Thank you sir (a polite response - useful for officialdom )

Yalla - Let's go!
Goodron - tarmac, a sealed road.
and of course - Inshallah - Please God

One other tip: Take the time to shake hands. Remember to shake hands with everyone in the group even if you are dealing\chatting with only one fellow. Apparently it's bad form not to greet everyone. ("How civilised", I thought)

David

 

[alimey4u2]

I found, upon leaving, the term Allah Akbar (God is great) held you in good stead for the next meeting.....

 

[Tim Cullis]

Good thread David.

What tends to happen with me is that I say 'salaam-aleikum', to which the response is the same followed by 'ca va?' (french for how goes it?). So my response is 'ca va, labas', acknowledging the french and issuing the Arabic equivalent.

The greetings phase can go back and forwards for several iterations and 'hamdoo lilah' (praise to God) is a 'code phrase' that the greetings stage is over. After one of the parties says hamdoo lilah nobody does any more greetings.

When you shake hands you should touch your heart every time. With a huge group where it's not practical to shake hands with everyone, a global 'salaam-aleikum' is OK. Sometimes when shaking hands with a person who considers themself more lowly, you will find their hand is wet; this is to show you they have just washed it.

You should *always* wash your hands before eating or touching food. Most treveller's stomach problems are caused by poor personal hygene.

I normally ask for milky coffee - 'nus nus' (half half) with a glass of tap water 'cas diel a ma.'

La (no) needs to be accompanied with a waggle of the finger for maximum impact.

Saha actually means 'health'

'Goudron' is french and means tar. A sealed road is a 'route goundroné'

My french accent obviously needs improving. I went into one shop and asked for 'un boutille d'eau' (a bottle of water). What I was given was a bottle of milk! I said, 'la, aman' (water in berber) at which the woman said, 'tu parle berber!'

Even with officials, the 'tu' form of french seems to be universally used.

Tim

 

[Posh Pete]

Keep 'em coming!

Not only an interesting thread for anyone going to or considering going to North and Saharan Africa, the Middle East and the gulf states but a reminder that our view of those parts of the world is pretty narrow and lacking in real understanding. I hope we have a lot more replies to this thread ...

 

[Two wheels good]

Tim

So how do you say "Can I have a cafe nus-nus and a glass of water please." (Tho' asking for the water is hardly necessary)
After suffering a few cafe au laits that seemed to contain only milk I finally discovered that a coffee with a little milk was a "cafe cassé" - a "broken coffee"

I agree with the hand washing. But I can never bring myself to use the public bar of soap. Jeez, there were some grimy wash-hand basins! I had planned to bring some antiseptic wipes but it slipped my mind.

It was curious to hear the informal "tu". My French is so crap drifting from tu to vous was the least of my problems.

David

 

[Steptoe]

You should *always* wash your hands before eating or touching food. Most treveller's stomach problems are caused by poor personal hygene.

.

Tim

I agree with the hand washing. But I can never bring myself to use the public bar of soap. Jeez, there were some grimy wash-hand basins! I had planned to bring some antiseptic wipes but it slipped my mind.

Fits in the tankbag, used every time before eating . No need to dry your hands, it evaporates.

 

[Fanum]

I had a very good website bookmarked with a lot of Arabic (Moroccan version, called Mahgreb IIRC) phrases written, spelled phonetically and with a sound clip of each one as well.....I've been looking for it for days but can't find it....would be very useful for this thread

Numbers; (with phonetic spelling)

 

[riderbob]

I have a short course for Arabic on 18 mp3 files. (about 3 Meg each). If someone tells me how to post them here then everyone can use them.

 

['Nuffsaid]

There is also a free download on some Moroccan phrases on I-Tunes - Search podcasts for "Stealing Moroccan reality" by a guy called Jam - you will be able to download the series - Light conversational 2-3 minute clips.

 

[desert]

hi from desert of morroco

The bread = khobz in arabic
Track = tarik
of = dial

 

[Timolgra]

In the remote regions of the High Atlas the local Berber people were keen to use Berber dialect instead of Arabic and when we tried, in a jovial manner, to speak with them they prefered us to use Berber phrases or words.

They told us that the most people in the region spoke Berber by choice but were not taught how to read or right their own language in schools.