Moroccan :

The languages of Morocco are classical Arabic as an official language (it is the "classical" Arabic of the Qur'an, literature and news media), also the country has a distinctive dialect of Arabic known as Moroccan Arabic or Darija. Approximately 8 million Moroccans speak Berber - which exists in Morocco in three different languages (Riff, Shilha, and Central Atlas) - either as a first language or bilingually with the spoken Arabic dialect. French, which remains Morocco's unofficial second language, is taught universally and serves as Morocco's primary language of commerce and economics; it is also widely used in education and government. Morocco is a member of La Francophonie. Berber activists have struggled for half a century for the recognition of their language as the official language of Morocco in the Moroccan constitution, and that this language should be taught in all Moroccan schools and universities. The latter demand being met by the Moroccan government in 2009.

The exact population of Berber speakers is hard to ascertain, since most North African countries do not record language data in their censuses. The Ethnologue provides a useful academic starting point; however, its bibliographic references are inadequate, and it rates its own accuracy at only B-C for the area. Early colonial censuses may provide better documented figures for some countries; however, these are also very much out of date. The number for each dialect is difficult to estimate.

Speakers of Riff dialect were estimated to be around 1.5 million in 1990. The language is spoken in the Rif area in the north of the country, and is the smallest Berber dialect in Morocco, by number of speakers. The Shilha dialect is considered to be the most widely spoken Berber dialect, as it covers the whole of the Region Souss-Massa-Draâ, and is also spoken in the Marrakech-Tensift-El Haouz region. Studies done in 1990 show around 3 million people, concentrated in the south of Morocco, speak the dialect. Central Morocco Tamazight is the second Berber language in Morocco. A 1998 study done by Ethnologue, shows that around 3 million people speak the language in Morocco. The total number of speakers was estimated at 3,150,000. The language is most used in the regions Middle Atlas, High Atlas, east High Atlas Mountains

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