• In fact, whether they want it or not, Moroccans are a schizophrenic nation, and they seem to take this diagnostic with great ease and even pride. Actually, no one seems to be preoccupied by this mental situation, and no one seems to suggest a group or individual therapy for a schizophrenic nation.

    If this situation has, however, existed in another country, sociologists, anthropologists, psychoanalysts, psychiatrics, and others, will seriously take care of this social phenomenon, which is very interesting and worrying at the same time.

    The state communicates with the Moroccan people through the means of two totally opposite languages. It uses Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) for:

    • News;
    • Politics;
    • King’s activities and his speeches; and
    • Religious celebrations and discussions, or any topic related to Islam.

    However, it uses French for:

    • Technology;
    • Scientific and medical topics;
    • Financial and economic topics; and
    • Foreign politics.

    The underlying message is that the language of the Koran and Islam is not capable of transmitting technological and scientific information to the Moroccan people. This clearly shows that the government underestimates the official language and that this langue is only official in appearance and doesn’t have any linguistic capacity that other European languages have, apparently.

    The government understands that the language of the “Christian European colonizer” is better placed to deal with these serious topics. This is the first example of the linguistic schizophrenia, government mode.

    The second part of the linguistic schizophrenia of the government shows clearly in education. The ministry of National Education use one quarter of the budget of the state, without satisfying people’s needs, since there are more and more students graduating but are unable to get any employment whatsoever.

    The government doesn’t want to admit that the arabization of the education undertaken in the 70s of the last century, for political and not for pedagogical reasons, has absolutely lead the educational system to total bankruptcy, that no one wants to admit, but that everyone talks about.

    But of course, however, politicians, and well-to-do people prefer to pay a lot of money for the education of their children in the European and American universities, knowing the debacle of the national educational system and that only training their offspring in international western universities will allow them to continue to control the economy and thereby politics in the country.

    For Rabia Redouane, the linguistic situation in Morocco remains very critical:

    Even though Morocco has carried on for the past decade various reforms to establish a multilingual policy recognizing officially both national languages to preserve its identity and culture, and promoting foreign languages to be open to the Modern world and to strive in this era of globalization, there is no doubt that Morocco linguistic situation remains a complex one with conflict of these varied languages and their speakers. Both MSA and Tamazight are recognized in the constitutional reform as the two official languages of the country, but none of the two languages assumes this responsibility and portrays the reality.

    Final word

    The Moroccan linguistic schizophrenia is a terrifying daily reality and a serious pathology that no one want to treat clinically and, as such, the true identity issue remains defuse and uncertain, in many ways, and maybe this situation, after all, is not a bad thing for Morocco and Moroccans because, to be honest, it strengthens their sense of tolerance and the acceptance of the other in his otherness and that is why Morocco has always being an open country to everyone irrespective of their color, creed or culture.

    So, linguistic and underlying cultural schizophrenia is not at all bitter but, on the contrary, has a sweet after taste, after all.

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