French in Morocco

somairle

I am heading to Morocco next year and I am wondering how widely French is understood in the tourist industry, I know the country as a whole is about 30% French speaking, but I would imagine thats higher in the tourist areas? is it used much? would it be an advantage? If so what dialect of French should I focus on?

Basically I only have school French, is it worth studying it hard 6 months to attain the basic spoken language, or would I be wasting my time? I have wanted to learn French for ages but have been steadily improving my Irish and putting it off, but going to Morocco next year changes my focus.

Thanks

shrapnel222

somairle wrote: »

I am heading to Morocco next year and I am wondering how widely French is understood in the tourist industry, I know the country as a whole is about 30% French speaking, but I would imagine thats higher in the tourist areas? is it used much? would it be an advantage? If so what dialect of French should I focus on?

Basically I only have school French, is it worth studying it hard 6 months to attain the basic spoken language, or would I be wasting my time? I have wanted to learn French for ages but have been steadily improving my Irish and putting it off, but going to Morocco next year changes my focus.

Thanks

most of everyone you are likely to encounter in the major cities speaks French... and very good french at that. the only possible difficulty is the arab accent but it's really not a difficult accent as they tend to separate the words very well and will call you "mon frere" a lot.

somairle

Great, ill crack on with some French then.

Merci

davwain

shrapnel222 wrote: »

most of everyone you are likely to encounter in the major cities speaks French... and very good french at that. the only possible difficulty is the arab accent but it's really not a difficult accent as they tend to separate the words very well and will call you "mon frere" a lot.

French appears to be as prevalent, in Morocco, as Russian is in Moldova, Ukraine and the Central Asian ex-Soviet republics. Given my intermediate-level French-speaking ability, I should be able to get by in Morocco, without the need for a translator; probably not so in Moldova, Ukraine or a Central Asian ex-Soviet republic without a Russian translator, given my very limited Russian-speaking ability.

peckerhead

When you step out of the airport, or leave your hotel, you'll be surrounded by "guides" touting their services who will happily chat away very fluently in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Russian... despite never having set foot outside Morocco. It's amazing. Tell them you're Irish and they'll come back with a "Conas atá tu, a chara?"

Enjoy it. Fantastic people.

shrapnel222

peckerhead wrote: »

When you step out of the airport, or leave your hotel, you'll be surrounded by "guides" touting their services who will happily chat away very fluently in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Russian... despite never having set foot outside Morocco. It's amazing. Tell them you're Irish and they'll come back with a "Conas atá tu, a chara?"

Enjoy it. Fantastic people.

considering the thread is 2 and a half years old and the OP has since closed his account, i really hope he's already made his trip to morocco.

Either that or he likes to plan things waaayyyy in advance :P