Lonely Planet Moroccan Arabic Phrasebook

if you have had some language training in Moroccan Arabic or classical/standard Arabic. It's otherwise a bit difficult to use, especially if it's your first exposure to the language. One added benefit is the book's two short sections on French and Berber phrases for the traveler.

The phrasebook was very helpful when I went over to Morocco for vacation. But before I left I had to have my friend from Morocco help me to make sure I was pronouncing them correctly. But for the most part it was helpful and very useful.

I bought it with a great enthusiasm but when I arrived at Morocco I discovered that the book is not useful for some reasons. I traveled around Morocco on bicycle for 2 weeks but learnt only very few phrases from this book. I suspect something is wrong with the structure of this phrasebook.

This book was GREAT! It's the best one out there, and it's a Fantastic price. So much information, helpful phrases, easy word spelling for prnounciation. This book was so helpful and yet so simple, it takes you from basic topics such as "Religion" "People" "Places" "Transportation" "Feelings" and so many other topics. This is a must read book. And it's so small, you can bring it anywhere.

Okay, so there are really only two books out there that I know of which will teach you anything about Moroccan Arabic: this handy little pocket-sized phrase book and the big, green, more academic text called "A Basic Course in Moroccan Arabic." The choice between the two is clear, with the Lonely Planet book being the obvious choice for the thousands of us who just plan on going to Morocco for a short visit as a tourist or on business. The other book would probably be a better choice if you plan on living in Morocco and need to know the grammar and truly gain some in-depth knowledge, though the LP phrasebook would probably be a good place to start anyway.

This "Moroccan Arabic Phrasebook" has most of what you will need for a short junket, with the usual smattering of vocabulary on food, clothes, medical problems, directions, hotels and airports. To add some criticism, since no book is perfect, I would mention that the glossary is only English-->Moroccan, so if someone tells you a word in "darija" you will have no way to look it up and find its equivalent in English. I really don't see the point of putting everything in Arabic script either, since Moroccan Arabic is never written down and the target audience won't be reading anything in Arabic anyway! Maybe just including a description of the alphabet in an appendix would suffice. As usual, there are always some things you need but cannot find (typically "where is the bathroom?", though I think LP included that this time!)...

I had a great time with some Moroccans at a party using the phrasebook: None of them spoke any French or English, so I played charades by acting like I was one of the animals listed in the book and I knew that they were guessing the right animal, since I had the name in the book in front of me. Cheezy-sounding, but believe me, when you have no way to communicate with anyone around you, desperation sets in! Which is where this great phrasebook will come in handy!