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Morocco parliament uses simultaneous interpretation into Berber for the first time

April 12, 2022 at 11:06 am

Moroccans shout slogans while waving the Berber, or Amazigh, flag on April 21, 2019 [AFP via Getty Images]

The Moroccan Parliament yesterday started to use simultaneous interpretation into Berber during its sessions, for the first time in the country’s history.

According to an Anadolu Agency correspondent, the House of Representatives initiated a session of questions using this simultaneous interpretation. A number of MPs commended this step.

Mohamed Ouzzine, a member from the opposition Popular Movement’s bloc, confirmed the adoption of a simultaneous interpretation of the Tamazight language.

He went on to call for a similar system during parliamentary committee meetings, and for parliament’s rules of procedure to be amended to include this interpretation.

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In 2019, Morocco adopted Berber, the language of the Amazigh, as an official language along with Arabic.

The Amazigh are indigenous peoples who inhabit the region that extends from Siwa Oasis west of Egypt in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west, and from the Mediterranean in the north to the Sahara Desert in the south.