Morocco: the price is a conversation, not a number
I landed thinking my French would carry me, and in most places it did. French opens plenty of doors in Morocco. It just does not open the same door as Darija.
Darija is Moroccan Arabic, and it is its own thing — fast, clipped, with French and Amazigh threaded through it. Nothing I had studied prepared my ear for it.
In the souk I got the real lesson. I asked a price in French, got a number, said no thank you, and walked. Perfectly efficient. Also, I now understand, slightly rude.
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