Teaching English in Morocco means, among other things, learning to speak Moroccan English. “So what is Moroccan English?” “I’ve heard of British English and American English, but Morocco’s not an Anglophone country, right?” Right. But just as speakers of English as a foreign language in Thailand speak differently than such speakers in Spain, Moroccan speakers of English have their own set of constructions, vocabulary, and idioms.
Now you might say, “Well, I know that language learners who share a native language tend to make common mistakes in English. Is that what you’re talking about?” And the answer would be yes. And no.
What I’m talking about might include some things reasonably called mistakes, but it also includes simply creative use of language, that at first sounds strange to a native speaker of English, but that eventually, for better or for worse, begins to sound completely normal.
By now you’re getting impatient, so here are some of my favorites.
“How about if we change the place?” Change the place? Change the location? Change places? Whatever the best substitute might be, this phrase is used whenever (a) a restaurant isn’t very appealing, (b) a beach spot is a little too crowded, or (c) a café is too smoky or doesn’t have the milk and fruit drink that you’re craving. I think it’s an awkward translation from French.
“Ana I don’t know.” “Ana I think that it’s very…” Ana, not to be confused with the girls’ name, is the personal pronoun I in Arabic. Very fluent speakers of English use this word all the time to begin very clear sentences in English. Why? Ana I don’t know. But it’s charming. Other Arabs like this construction also.
“I went to the house of my sister last weekend.” Is that the title of the building…? This one is simply a construction issue based on Arabic. That is, if you translate this sentence literally back into Arabic, you will be correct. It puts the possessive apostrophe s into infrequent use.
“Believe me.” Normal, right? It won’t seem so when said after every other sentence and in reference to things about which, well, you weren’t particularly suspicious – until the person insisted that you believe him or her. This one goes well with, “I swear to God,” which might be said in English or Arabic and is also a common way of insisting on your point.
“The students in class today were harassing my head.” An improvement on other usage, don’t you think? Clear and precise. It comes, so I’m told, from the Moroccan Arabic phrase “kiharrassly rassi,”where you might notice a set of sounds similar to the English harass.Now the question is whether the word went from English to Moroccan Arabic or from Moroccan Arabic to English.
And the best of yesterday: “I don’t think we should go to that beach. The water isn’t very profound there.” What?? Searching for meaning…. Poetry I’m not sophisticated enough for? Ohhh! You mean it’s not very deep?!
One way or another, interacting with phrases like this in your daily life – in addition to all the second, third, fourth language learning you do as a visitor living in Morocco – helps expand your creative ability to understand. It’s also humbling, if you don’t already speak 4 or 5 languages - because many Moroccans do (Arabic, Berber, French, Spanish, German, Dutch) - and it’s from this wealth of communicative knowledge that they bring these “mistakes”. So, even if you’re planning on teaching, get ready to start learning.
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From 3 People
