Darija Book review

Learning Darija may seem like a steep goal. Learning any language is a difficult task, taking a lot of time and effort and Darija is the same. In the beginning, the effort involved may seem overwhelming. At this stage of learning, you will need to find resources to get you started such as a Darija book.

A great resource is a Darija book that teaches you the Darija language. This will get you familiar with some of the grammar and some words and phrases. By seeing these words and sentence structures, you can then begin to understand how the language works and be able to construct your own sentences. The issue is, which Darija book should you choose to start with?

Through the years I have been looking for a Darija book to help me with my journey. I have seen a lot of books that say they will help you with the language. Some of these books I really enjoyed and some of them I did not find helpful. I am very surprised that some of these books are so popular. Let’s go through some popular books that teach the Darija language.

Here are some of the most popular books that teach the Darija language.

• Moroccan Arabic: Shnoo the hell is going on H’naa?
• Lonely Planet Moroccan Arabic Phrasebook & Dictionary
• Moroccan Arabic Grammar
• The Routledge Introductory Course in Moroccan Arabic
• An Introduction to Moroccan Arabic and Culture
• Conversational Arabic Quick and Easy: Moroccan Arabic Dialect

Moroccan Arabic: Shnoo the hell is going on H’naa?

Pros

The book teaches Arabic grammar which is an important part to start learning any language. It breaks down many important aspects of Arabic grammar which is used in Darija. Each lesson provides examples that help put the lessons into context. It gives you an explanation with the transliteration to help new learners with the pronunciation of words and sentences. In the appendix, it gives you some common words and phrases used.

Cons

Although I do believe grammar is very important, it seems this Darija book is mainly a grammar book with a few other sections that can be quickly glanced through. The issue with being essentially a grammar book is that you become too analytical and creating sentences take longer to create when speaking. The book doesn’t really get into numbers which I found weird. The book claims that the flow of the book is easy to read. If you don’t have prior knowledge of Arabic or grammar, this book would be very difficult to follow. Finally, this book doesn’t cover anything with French, which is somewhat blended into the Darija language. I feel this book basically took Arabic grammar and tried to convert it into Darija. While Darija is a dialect of Arabic, a lot of the grammar rules are not used. This may be a book that is best suited to an intermediate learner who already knows some vocabulary and is trying to build more complex and proper sentences.

Lonely Planet Moroccan Arabic Phrasebook & Dictionary

Pros

This is personally a favorite book of mine, just because of the phrases. Moroccans use a lot of phrases when they speak in Darija. This book gives you phrases for almost all types of situations. It has a vocabulary list at the end of each sentence, which I like because, after each lesson, your vocabulary is increased and you are able to come up with sentences on your own. There is a french section towards the end of the book. This is very useful as there is a mixture of some french in Darija. At the end of the book, there is a dictionary of common words that you may come across. There are also some tidbits about the culture in Morocco to help readers with certain situations.

Cons

The Darija book does touch a bit on grammar but it’s very quick. I think there should be more grammar added to the book. I understand the emphasis for this book is for travelers but adding some more grammar lessons would make this book perfect. If you have some experience with Darija or you are looking for one book to help you to become fluent in this language, this book will not have enough information for you.

Moroccan Arabic Grammar

Pros

Another grammar book that teaches important aspects of Arabic grammar. The book is short, so you can get through the book quickly. If you already have some vocabulary and phrases memorized then this book will help you to fill in some missing gaps and help you to start coming up with complex sentences.

Cons

This book solely looks at grammar. For a person who is just starting to learn Darija, this is not enough. Vocabulary and phrases are needed to be learned as well. It seems like a lot of these Darija books will take Standard Arabic grammar. They basically convert the grammar lessons to Darija which may seem reasonable but doesn’t account for sentences that use French or even bypass the rules. I suppose if you were to purchase this book and a Darija phrasebook, that combination would be enough to teach you the basics. I mentioned the author said that he has a Facebook page. The problem I have with Facebook pages or any type of online groups is that they always end up as translations platforms. In the end, you don’t really learn anything from these groups.

The Routledge Introductory Course in Moroccan Arabic

Pros

I am very impressed with this book. This book teaches you the grammar at the beginning of this book and then once you master the grammar they start to add the vocabulary and phrases for various scenarios. In Part I, the language and transliterated to allow the reader an easier time to get used to the sounds and words. In Part II, they introduce the Arabic script an go into an analysis of certain words and phrases. The flow of the book is made perfectly to gradually build your knowledge. Each lesson provides some exercises that reinforce the information presented. I wish other books would follow the structure of this book. If I was teaching a course, I would most likely be using this book in that course unless I was using a book I created on my own.

Cons

It is very hard for me to find any cons to this book. The price and the length of this book may be high but for the amount of information that is provided, it is a bargain. I would like to see an accompanying dvd attached to this book, which narrates some conversations that emphasize the lessons learned in each chapter or section.

An Introduction to Moroccan Arabic and Culture

Pros

The DVD accompanying is a huge plus for this book. As I mentioned in many prior articles, Darija is a spoken language and the language needs to be spoken and heard. You will learn enough of the daily phrases to speak to natives and understand some simple sentences. You also learn about some of the Moroccan cultures such as holidays.

Cons

They don’t really touch on the grammar. The issue with this is that the sentences you can speak and understand are entirely limited to the phrases that are presented in the Darija book. Although the phrases are beneficial, at the end of the book, I feel that the reader will remain as a beginner.

Conversational Arabic Quick and Easy: Moroccan Arabic Dialect

Pros

The book is incredibly short (44 pages) so you could get through this book very quickly. They present a lot of the most common words and phrases. For anyone who is planning a trip to Morocco and wants to impress the locals with a few sentences, this would be the perfect book. They go through some grammar and you learn the most commonly used words.

Cons

A lot of people who praise this book claim that this book gave them “enough to get by” when they travel to Morocco. I’ve been studying this language for 7 years and I can tell you, you will not have “enough to get by” on a 44-page book. You may be able to say a sentence you memorized but the response to your sentence is a whole different ball game. To me, this book just felt like an overview of the language written in a way to convince you that the author found a magical key to unlock the Darija language to you. I’ll explain the real key below.

Other things to consider

Books are a great first step on your journey to learning Darija. Regardless of my opinion, if you have absolutely no knowledge of Arabic or Darija, any of the books mentioned above will help you to get started. You will learn words, phrases and how sentences are created in Darija. Once you do have some knowledge, you will need to transition to listening and speaking. Darija is a spoken language and reading can only take you so far. The language needs to be heard and spoken. There are many resources to help you (see my article on Learning Moroccan Arabic the definitive guide). If you are unsure about what other resources to choose to look no further than mydarijajourney.com. This site has a wealth of information about the Darija language and with the member section you get everything any book would provide you but in addition, you get translations of songs, a huge word bank and real-life conversations with analysis of the sentences afterward.