The city has much to offer in terms of history and culture. There are treasures everywhere, from the newest cafés of the Ville Nouvelle to the oldest tanneries hidden in the heart of Fez el Bali. The city doesn’t yield its secrets easily and exacts a price for every treasure revealed. Fez is not quick and clean, nor is it easy to navigate. Its physical and social areas take time to discover and appreciate, and you must be patient and willing to adapt to often unfamiliar and slower-paced ways living.

Traditinal dancer, Fez

City-dwelling Moroccans, led since 1999 by His Majesty King Mohammed VI, move from ultra-modern to ancient modes of doing things with the same ease and dignity that they shift from French to Arabic to Berber (and often English and Spanish). The country’s geographical location within eyesight of Europe, where hundreds of thousands of Moroccans work, and Morocco’s recent history have contributed to the cosmopolitan quality of the country and its people. Furthermore, it is a country of pronounced tolerance, where foreigners are normally held in high esteem and made to feel welcome.

Morocco, like many other countries in the region, is undergoing complex and often painful socio-cultural adjustments, the ramifications of which are exacerbated by economic strains, especially unemployment. On a psychological level, numerous Moroccans, especially the younger generation, are going through a kind of identity crisis in which they may be simultaneously attracted to and repelled by Western culture, which translates itself into uneven attitudes and, at times, moodiness. You are encouraged to show sensitivity and to avoid articulating too many comparisons between the United States and Morocco. Do not be surprised if many young Moroccans seem to be pressing you for information about the possibilities of emigrating or finding work abroad.

While both Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Colloquial Moroccan Arabic (CMA) derive largely from the same basic source (so-called Classical Arabic), they are in many ways two distinct languages. MSA is the language of the news media, written correspondence and documents, literature and formal speeches. As strange as it might sound, MSA is not a language spoken fluently by the majority of Moroccans. Though few educated Moroccans have difficulty reading Arabic and understanding Arabic news broadcasts, few of them feel truly confident in using it in oral communication. To further complicate matters for Dartmouth students wishing to practice their CMA outside of class, many Moroccan professionals have been educated in France or in a French mold, so that in discussing more intellectual or technical topics, they may have difficulty expressing themselves without resorting to French. It is not uncommon for a Dartmouth student trying to make conversation with a Moroccan in MSA to have unrealistic expectations about chatting in literary Arabic with the corner grocer-whose native language may in fact be Berber!

You should also be aware of the typical Moroccan attitude toward CMA: it is not regarded as a language in the formal sense of the word, and Moroccans may be quite bewildered by the fact that you are studying it in class. For them, only MSA is a written language with formal rules and conventions. They may express astonishment if they see you studying in ALIF CMA course books, and even make remarks suggesting that CMA is not “real” Arabic. In sum, educated Moroccans will speak CMA and French, and may be more comfortable in the latter. They will be able to read MSA and with effort converse in it. Some will know Berber. They may also know English. Less-educated Moroccans may have conversational French, English, Spanish, even Dutch, but will be most comfortable in CMA or Berber.