I love Darija (Moroccan Arabic). It's fun to speak, it's a mixture of several different languages, and similar to the people who speak it, it's rather complex. I'd like to track my progress in Darija from now (August 1, 2019) forward, but it's important to showcase my background in Darija (since this isn't my first rodeo).
Why are you studying Arabic now when you will be studying it for three months in Morocco?
I'm a geek; I like learning and Darija is genuinely fun to learn for me. And since language-training has been described as one of the most intense parts of Peace Corps service in Morocco by several returned Peace Corps volunteers, I want to be ahead of the game. I also plan on using Arabic in the future for whichever career I decide to choose, so I'd like to be near-native level by the time I return.
Here's the journey:
Summer 2017- I did Moroccan Arabic lessons on a site called Live Lingua to study a bit before my trip.
Fall 2017- My study abroad experience in Meknes, Morocco. I took two Darija courses (but the courses were only 15 hours each). My Darija professor was AMAZING, but I wasn't able to become conversational after 30 hours of instruction.
[huge gap of not studying any Arabic]
Spring 2019- Did a couple Darija lessons with Preply during the semester after receiving my acceptance into Peace Corps.
August 1st- Here I am now:
I will continue to do a few more lessons via Preply as well as self-study with Peace Corps' online textbook before moving in September.