Kantkllm Darija, shwiya b shwiya! - I speak Darija, little by little!

Kansaken f Merja – Merja hiya medina qrib mn Fes, f lmghrib. Kulyum, ana u mutataw3in xurin kanmshiu l dar shebab u kanqrau darija m3a ustad dyalna, smitu Omar. Kangul ‘shwyia b shwiya,’ Hit Mra Mra nas kayfhamuni, u ana kanfhamhum, welakin mra mra, meli kaytkllmu bzrba mafhamsh. Darija s3iba shwiya, welakin kan3rrf bzaff, Hit hadi gir 7 simanat u ana f mghrib! Inshallah, gadi kantkllm darija mzyan! f 24 shur 5, gadi nmshi l medina jdida dyali, u gadi nxdam m3a lwizarat dyal chebab besh ndir anshita l chebab f l dar chebab. Bgit ndir anshita u muxayam xas b bnat u niswi, inshaallah.

Translation: I live in Merja – Merja is a city close to Fes in Morocco. Everyday, my colleagues and I go to the Dar Chebab and study Darija with our teacher, whose name is Omar. I say, ‘little by little,’ because sometimes, people understand me and I understand them, but sometimes, when they speak quickly, I don’t understand. Darija is a little bit difficult, but I know a lot, since I’ve only been in Morocco for 7 weeks! God willing, I will speak Darija well! On May 25^th, I will go to my new city and work with the Ministry of Youth to do activities for youth in the Dar Chebab. I would like to do actvities and camps specifically for girls and women.

As you can see, my Darija (Moroccan dialect of Arabic) is coming along, shwiya b shwiya! With less than two weeks left of training (ah!), I've started doing some reflection about the training experience - cultural integration, living with a host family, technical preparation for youth development work, and of course, language. A friend of mine and fellow PCT, Eugene, made the very apt observation that learning a language is like looking at a picture that’s slowly coming into focus: first you can’t make out much – maybe a few colors, basic shapes - then some details start to appear, and later the larger picture as a whole begins to take shape. At that point, it becomes easier and easier to locate details within the larger framework, until it begins to feel like understanding, rather than merely searching through the fog for something that makes sense.

I’m happy to say that I finally feel as though I’ve reached something close to that point - I can see the larger picture, and I can place new words, verbs, grammar, etc. into my understanding fairly well. I am by no means fluent, or anywhere close to it, but the language feels less and less like a mystery, and my understanding seems to be increasing exponentially with each passing day. Even with all this, it still feels like a challenge, and from time to time it gets exhausting having to constantly translate for myself – especially on those days when it feels like everyone decided to use words I don’t know yet (some days are just off!). I try to always remind myself about how far we’ve all come with our language in such a short amount of time. I know more Darija now, after studying for two months, than I ever knew of German, which I studied for 3 years – and that’s pretty amazing! 

I've also noticed myself using certain Darija phrases in my own personal thoughts, which is awesome and pretty funny. Things like, "mashi mushkil" (no problem), "mzyan bezef" (very good), and a few other phrases/terms are used so often, both by Moroccans and in my everyday speech, that they've become part of my regular vocabulary, sometimes even when talking with Americans back home who don't know any Darija (sorry about that in advance!).

We had some informal language progress checks at the end of last week, and I was able to talk about myself, recount what I’d done in the past day, past week, past year, etc., discuss what my interests are, what I’m doing in Morocco, and much more – I even told a funny story about the time my host cousin, Zynab, accidentally called herself a potato when I was helping her with English! I also feel fairly confident in articulating the Peace Corps mission and 3 goals in Darija [finally!], as well as in describing the kind of work I’d like to do in my final site. I’m so glad to know how to express those ideas, not only because it’s exciting to express complex ideas, but also because there have been so many times in the past when I’ve wanted to explain to a Moroccan about Peace Corps, why we are learning Darja, and what we will be doing for two whole years (they often assume we are just here to teach English, and while we will be doing that from time to time, it’s not at all our main purpose).

I still have a long way to go, but I’m relieved to finally feel as though I’m prepared to leave for my final site and be on my own. In only a little more than 2 weeks, I’ll be speaking Darija with people in my final site, and may or may not have anyone working with me who speaks English. It’s going to be a challenge, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous as all get out – but I’m looking forward to more and more every day!