For the last few months I've been living in Morocco and while I've been learning Moroccan Arabic (and dabbled a bit in French), I've been really wanting to learn Chleuh or Tachelhit or whatever name you want to call it, one of the Berber languages of Morocco that's spoken in the South.
Recently I discovered that the Peace Corps has a book out, I'm so glad, but still I would really like some more material. It's a real inefficient use of time to just ask native speakers what's that and what's this, and then there are loads of things that are difficult to learn just from asking like that, especially if the speaker doesn't speak English...or French...and my Arabic sucks. It's kinda funny how Latin, a language with no native speakers, has far more material available than a language that is still spoken by millions...
But anyway, managed to order food in Tachelhit this morning and got a smile out of it. I get the impression they feel the same way about foreigners learning their language as Koreans when we hear foreigners learn ours (even a couple of words is enough for us to beam in delight).
Recently I discovered that the Peace Corps has a book out, I'm so glad, but still I would really like some more material. It's a real inefficient use of time to just ask native speakers what's that and what's this, and then there are loads of things that are difficult to learn just from asking like that, especially if the speaker doesn't speak English...or French...and my Arabic sucks. It's kinda funny how Latin, a language with no native speakers, has far more material available than a language that is still spoken by millions...
But anyway, managed to order food in Tachelhit this morning and got a smile out of it. I get the impression they feel the same way about foreigners learning their language as Koreans when we hear foreigners learn ours (even a couple of words is enough for us to beam in delight).