Morocco Shifts Away from French Language Amid Diplomatic Tensions with France

In retaliation, explains El Debate, Morocco has launched a media campaign against France, and is now seeking to eradicate the use of French in Moroccan daily life, the second most spoken language in the country after Arabic.

Traditionally, Arabic and French are commonly used on Moroccan streets, in the media and even in schools where the Moroccan elite is trained, the newspaper writes. But, with the emergence of the United States as Morocco’s main ally, a preference for English is now being encouraged by the government, sidelining French.

The newspaper, citing a university professor, called for curbing the "invasion of the French language", decried as a "legacy of colonialism", arguing that the use of French hinders the rights of the two official languages of the country, Arabic and Amazigh.

At the state level, the Moroccan Ministry of Education, led by Chakib Benmoussa, has launched an ambitious plan to generalize English in the country’s schools by 2025. This contrasts sharply with the daily reality where French is commonly used, including in all public administrations.

The 2021 report of the British Council reveals that 40% of Moroccans believe that English is the most important language to learn, compared to only 10% for French. Similarly, two-thirds believe that English will surpass French as the most important foreign language in the years to come. Anthropologist Mohamed Sghir Janjar stated that an "irreversible" trend has begun, noting that "English has arrived without us realizing it." This decision to encourage the use of English, devoid of the symbolic weight of colonialism, is seen as an "anti-French" measure and an additional sign of disdain towards France, Morocco’s former European ally.