The word “Darija” itself means dialect. Darija is the Moroccan Arabic, and it is a dialect spoken in Arab areas of Morocco, and, spoken both by Arabs and Berbers. In Moroccan non-Arab regions, many people especially older man or women do not know any language but Berber. In general, Berbers know Moroccan darija but Arabs do not know Berber. Moroccan Arabic is grammatically simpler, and, has a much more limited vocabulary compared to the classical Arabic. It has also integrated a lot of words from Berber, French, Spanish and Portuguese. The Moroccan Arabic has a pronunciation that is mostly intelligible and non-understood to other speakers of the Arab area of the Middle East, but it is usually understandable among other North African dialects in Moroccan, Algeria and in some cases in Tunisia. Moroccan Arabic is highly influenced by Berber pronunciation.
Hi Saqib! Yes,I agree with you that many non-Arabic sspeakers find Darija difficult to learn, but it all depends on how you leaarn it! With my students, I usually start with a 'survival kit' in Darija; a set of phrases and sentences that they can use when communicating with Darija speakers.I do not focus on grammar from the very beginning! Iteach grammar integrated with oither skills.
I've been trying to learn it alongside Modern Standard Arabic. It's great fun but very difficult at the same time.
