Lonely Planet Moroccan Arabic Phrasebook

Fab, recieved the book within a week when stated it would take upto a month! what a fantastic book! never again will there be a mis-understood word in my house! thank you very very much! Highly recommend! :o) :o)

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!)... <br /> <br />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!

My husband and I have both gone over the book and were quite suprised and pleased at the accuracy. Moroccan arabic is a VERY different dialect from the traditional and Egyptian arabic, so if you are hoping to use this book to communicate with other arabic speakers that are NOT from Morocco, forget it. They will not understand you(although, some Algerians and Tunisians might as many Moroccans live there and the language is a little similar), so don't buy it if you want to communicate with non-Moroccans. I bought the travel pack which included the book, audio cassette and a little lesson book, that doubles as the cassettes's cover. Although, it is true: it is not for conversations or to learn the actual language from; it is mainly travel dialog and gettin' around stuff to say but I have in a pinch been able to use it on my husband with fantastic results. NOTE: this dialect is not spoken all through Morocco. There are several dialects of arabic spoken there. This particular dialect is spoken in Casablanca, Agadir and around there-'bouts. Different regions speak different dialects but most Moroccans should be able to understand you, from what my hubby says. I did have a couple of disappointments though; for one, the book's transliteration is a little strange on some of the words but nothing crucial, you will still be understood. I read arabic and some pages includes the arabic script of the sentences, so I could read that and understand more. Secondly, I wish there was MORE dialog or a part 2!! Third, if you buy the cassette with it, sadly, it does NOT cover anything in the book. My husband and I agree that it is an excellent book and well worth the price but if it is too hard for you to learn it and you are going to Morocco: learn Spanish or French. At least 95% of the population knows them as they are considered the main 4 languages of the land: Arabic, French, Spanish(Spain dialect-not Mexican Spanish), and Berber. If you are getting it to learn for a Moroccan husband or boyfriend, it will slightly help but you will not learn the language or how to speak to him from this book but it's a good reference to have on hand anyway! It has helped me! (get the cassette, too!)

This book provides a lot of fun facts that make it easy to understand the Moroccan language, as well as culture. There is an easy-to-use pronunciation guide to get any beginner started, though some of the suggested sounds to make while attempting to pronounce certain phrases are difficult to master. This book seems to encompass what one would need to know for their basic travel needs, and most of what it does not cover in its text, it covers in its dictionary. This book is ideal for traveling due also to its small size. However, I would not recommend purchasing it for the purpose of attempting to communicate with your ESL (English as a Second Language) boyfriend, whom you cannot understand otherwise, because it probably won't be too helpful. (Especially if he dumps you because you can in no way marry him sometime in the near future).