Democratic prices, undemocratic language in Morocco
One of the great pleasures for me of travelling round the Middle East, is the bargaining that takes place in the souq. The human connection, the gentle role-playing and the subtle humour make it a charming, if time-consuming past time. In my recent journey to Marrakech, I came across a new phrase from the shopkeepers to further their cause. They claimed that the price they were offering was a "democratic price". Now since English is most likely their third or even fourth language (after North African Arabic, French and Berber) I'm sure the provenance of this word comes from somewhere much more sensical, although we couldn't work out what it was meant to mean. Nonetheless we were tickled by the idea of a democratic price - one for all?
More intriguing for an "Arab" country was our experience of communication. I speak conversational (if rather inaccurate) French as well as standard Arabic (a sort of like the Arabic equivalent of neutral BBC English). I noticed the locals found great difficulty in responding in Standard Arabic. They could often begin sentences, but would switch into French quite rapidly. Of course, they could chatter away in the local dialect. Does this mean that "Fus-ha", the clean pure standard Arabic which is supposed to be the jewel in the crown of the Arab world, and one of its uniting factors, is dying out in Morocco? I've noticed a similar trend in other countries where children of middle and upper class families are sent to English medium schools, who speak local dialect at home, and then fail to learn Fus-ha.
In all the lovely restaurants and hotels we visited, I also noticed that the menus and information were in French. Again, in other Arab countries I've noticed that they will usually have Arabic and then another European language such as English or French, but here it seemed that Arabic was totally excluded from anywhere "expensive". In fact, I saw surprisingly little evidence of Arabic writing anywhere.
Does this mean that in order to "get ahead" and be part of the rich set, that French language is the way forward, and Arabic is abandoned? What does this mean for the cohesion of the "Arab" nations? What then binds them together?
More intriguing for an "Arab" country was our experience of communication. I speak conversational (if rather inaccurate) French as well as standard Arabic (a sort of like the Arabic equivalent of neutral BBC English). I noticed the locals found great difficulty in responding in Standard Arabic. They could often begin sentences, but would switch into French quite rapidly. Of course, they could chatter away in the local dialect. Does this mean that "Fus-ha", the clean pure standard Arabic which is supposed to be the jewel in the crown of the Arab world, and one of its uniting factors, is dying out in Morocco? I've noticed a similar trend in other countries where children of middle and upper class families are sent to English medium schools, who speak local dialect at home, and then fail to learn Fus-ha.
In all the lovely restaurants and hotels we visited, I also noticed that the menus and information were in French. Again, in other Arab countries I've noticed that they will usually have Arabic and then another European language such as English or French, but here it seemed that Arabic was totally excluded from anywhere "expensive". In fact, I saw surprisingly little evidence of Arabic writing anywhere.
Does this mean that in order to "get ahead" and be part of the rich set, that French language is the way forward, and Arabic is abandoned? What does this mean for the cohesion of the "Arab" nations? What then binds them together?
posted by Shelina Zahra Janmohamed at 13:23
3 Comments:
I'd like to point out that in Morocco, derija (North African Arabic, as you call it) has always been the street dialect. Fus-ha has always been relegated to being "the language of the Qu'ran" and little more. Prior to the arrival of the French in Morocco, for much of the country, it was a Qu'ranic education or no formal education.
Additionally, nearly 50% of the country speaks one of the "Berber" dialects - this has never been a purely "Arab" country - Amazigh, Shilha, Tashelheit, and the Riffain dialect were traditionally first languages, THEN derija, then perhaps Fus-ha (and since the turn of the last century, French).
Since derija isn't technically a written language, Fus-ha is allegedly the language of education, however, teachers speak in derija. Many students read and write Fus-ha just fine, but can't speak it very well. French often follows the same pattern.
As far as English is concerned - although it's classified by most as a "third language" for Morocco, it's becoming closer to a second for many children. From what I undrestand, Morocco is considering taking a similar path as Tunisia in English language education, something that would allow English to be taught at the same early age as French.
Sorry for ranting; your blog is fantastic, it came up in my Google Alerts and I couldn't help but comment.
-a derija, but not fus-ha, speaker
I like the idea of prices being 'democratic', whatever precisely that means. It seems to imply that one charges what is right for the person, rather than some commercially-driven, pre-determined sum.
The nearest equivalent I have experienced is Greece, where you can see the vendor eyeing you up and down to esablish whether you seem a 500 drachma customer or a 300. (There may be some Government imposed price list somewhere, but no one takes any notice.)
It also helps if you are a returning buyer: first visit to any restaurant and you'll be charged a full whack on the assumption that you're just passing through the once; second and subsequent visits the price will drop each time in recognition of your loyalty to the place and sense of belonging.
And portions or measures too are no more fixed than the prices. Ask for a whisky or an ouzo and you'll not get the set amount in the optic, but a cheery glassful or even sometimes the bottle to help yourself.
There is never any "We're closing so go home" hassle either. If you want to sit and eat/drink then they want to be there for you.
Why though does one have to go abroad for this? Why can't we manage such liberality of spirit in this country? Answers on a postcard to me at some harbour-side taverna on a Greek island please!
Yes, when I went to Morocco I noticed traders constantly used the expression "democratic price"! My own theory is that the word democratic is bandied around so much - often with so little meaning - in the international community, that those who speak English only as a third language might take it to simply mean "fair". So democratic price = fair price.
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