Morocco - Maroc - المغرب (MA)

1. Language information / Données sur les langues

1.1 Languages spoken / Langues parlées

a) Official / Officielle(s) :

Arabic

b) National, indigenous / Nationale(s), indigène(s) :

Colloquial Arabic, Berber languages are widely spoken.

Ethnologue lists 9 living languages at http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=MA

c) Relevant pages in the Major Languages section of this report / Pages appropriées dans la section de ce rapport sur les Langues principales :

Arabic, Berber

1.2 Policy / Politique

a) Laws/legislation / Lois/législation :

The site L'aménagement linguistique dans le monde has a page on Morocco at http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/afrique/maroc.htm

b) Agencies / Agences :

• Institut Royal de la Culture Amazight au Maroc (IRCAM) http://www.ircam.ma/
• Institut d'Etudes et de Recherches pour l'Arabisation (IERA) http://www.emi.ac.ma/univ-MdV/IERA/iera.html

c) Languages in education/literacy / Langues dans l'éducation/l'alphabétisation :

A process of Arabization has led to a reinforcement of the position of Arabic vis-a-vis French.

There has recently been a decision to introduce the instruction of Berber languages using the Tifinagh script at the primary school levels.

UNDP (2006) gives a literacy figure (without reference to which language[s]) of: 52.3%

1.3 Writing in national/indigenous languages / Ecriture en langues nationales/indigènes

a) Orthographies / Orthographes :

Morocco in effect uses three alphabets: The Latin one for French, European languages, and Latin transcription of Amazight [?]; Arabic for Arabic and Arabic transcription of Amazight; and Tifinagh, the ancient script of Amazight and Berber languages, which also has had recent modifications.

There are some minor differences in the Moroccan usage of the Arabic script, notably the position of dots in the fa and qaf letters, per the following table:

	Standard Arabic	Maghrebian Arabic
fa	ف	ڢ
qaf	ق	ڧ

b) Print publications / Editions imprimées :

As in other Arabophone countries there is a significant production in Arabic [standard not colloquial??].

[Information re Amazight??]

1.4 Other comments / Autre commentaire

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2. ICT situation / Situation des TIC

2.1 Infrastructure / Infrastructure

a) Telephones / Téléphones :

• Fixed lines: Telephone mainlines: 41 per 1000 people (APC)
• Mobile subscriptions: 7,333,000 (24.3 per 100 people) (ITU 2004 cited in Vodafone 2005)

b) Radio stations / Stations de radio :

c) Connectivity / Connectivité :

• International internet bandwidth / Bande passante internationale d'internet :
• ISPs / FSI : (number?)
  • MTDS http://www.mtds.com
• Geographic coverage / Couverture géographique :

2.2 Computer & internet access / Accès aux ordinateurs et à l'internet

a) Computers & points of access / Ordinateurs et lieux d'accès :

• Number of computers / Nombre d'ordinateurs: 13.7 per 1000 people (APC)
• Cybercafés / Cybercafés:
• Project telecentres / Télécentres de projets:

b) Internet / Internet :

• Dial-up subscribers / Abonnés par ligne téléphonique :
• Internet users / Utilisateurs de l'internet : 3,500,000 Internet users as of Sept/05, 11.6% of the population, per ITU (Internet World Stats)

c) Other / Autre :

• Digital Opportunity Index (DOI): 0.41 (ITU 2006)

2.3 Policy / Politique

Information on Morocco's NICI (National Information and Communications Infrastructure) policy is available at:

• http://www.uneca.org/aisi/nici/country_profiles/Morocco/morocpol.htm
• http://www.uneca.org/aisi/NICI/country_profiles/Morocco/morocab.htm

SNIMA (Service de Normalisation Industrielle Marocaine) has a role in some ICT standards (such as a keyboard for Tifinagh) http://www.mcinet.gov.ma/SNIMA/

The APC page, "ICT Policy in Morocco" has some information and links:

• In English: http://rights.apc.org/africa/index.shtml?apc=s21807e_1
• En français: http://afrique.droits.apc.org/index.shtml?apc=s21807e_1

2.4 ICT4D/E & ICT training / TIC pour le développement/éducation, et formation en TIC

Tanmia "Portail Internet marocain destiné à renforcer la capacité des associations marocaines grâce à l’utilisation des TIC" http://www.tanmia.ma/

2.5 Resources / Ressources

ICT info http://www.emich.edu/ict_usa/MOROCCO.htm

Open source groups:

• OSIM (Open Source in Morocco) http://www.osim.ma [not working 12/2006]
• Projet Linux Maroc http://linuxmaroc.free.ma/index.php
• Linux Maroc لينكس المغرب http://www.linux-maroc.org/
• AMULL (Assoc. Maghrebiènne des Utilisateurs de Logiciel Libre)
• ADIL (Assoc. pour le développeemnt de l'informatique libre)
• Ubuntu Morrocan Team https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MoroccanTeam

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3. Localisation situation / Situation de localisation

3.1 Country web content / Contenu web du pays

3.2 Web content in indigenous languages / Contenu web en langues indigènes

(See also specific language pages.)

3.3 Software localisation / Localisation de logiciel

(See also 2.5, above)

(See also specific language pages.)

3.4 Projects & organisations / Projets et organisations

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4. References / Références

APC, "ICT Policy in Morocco," Africa ICT Policy Monitor, http://rights.apc.org/africa/index.shtml?apc=s21807e_1 ("Politiques de TIC en/au Maroc," Observatoire des politiques des TIC en Afrique, http://afrique.droits.apc.org/index.shtml?apc=s21807e_1 )

International Telecommunications Union (ITU). 2006. World Information Society Report 2006. Geneva: ITU. http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/publications/worldinformationsociety/2006/wisr-web.pdf

______. 2004. African Telecommunication Indicators 2004. Geneva: ITU.

Internet World Stats: Africa. 2006. http://internetworldstats.com/africa.htm

Leclerc, Jacques. L'aménagement linguistique dans le monde, "Maroc," http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/afrique/maroc.htm

SIL International, Ethnologue: Languages of the World, "Languages of Morocco," http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=MA

Souag, Lameen, "Writing Berber Languages," http://www.geocities.com/lameens/tifinagh

UNDP. 2006. ''Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis. Human Development Report 2006.'' New York: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). [Human development index Adult literacy rate (% ages 15 and older) (HDI) http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/statistics/indicators/3.html ]

Vodafone. 2005. "Africa: The Impact of Mobile Phones." The Vodafone Policy Paper Series, Number 3, March 2005. http://www.vodafone.com/assets/files/en/GPP%20SIM%20paper.pdf

Wikipedia, "Maroc," http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maroc

______. "Morocco," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morocco

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