The University of La Laguna (ULL) in Spain's Canary Islands is offering a Moroccan Arabic, or Darija, seminar to medical and nursing students. This initiative is part of the university's Arab and Islamic Studies Days, organized by ULL's Department of Classical, French, Arabic, and Romance Philology. The seminar aims to strengthen practical communication and deepen understanding of Morocco. Sessions are being held on September 29, October 6, and October 13.
The program focuses specifically on Morocco, combining language instruction with cultural, historical, geographical, and tourism-related themes. Its main linguistic emphasis is on Moroccan Arabic as the language used in everyday communication. ULL framed the initiative within Morocco's linguistic landscape, where Modern Standard Arabic coexists with Darija in daily life. Understanding this distinction is important for students seeking more than purely formal Arabic-language instruction.
The course is open to students already studying Arabic, researchers from other disciplines, and members of the public. However, it is being offered "especially" to nursing and medical students for practical communication reasons. The initiative is an open seminar rather than a newly introduced compulsory component of ULL's medicine or nursing degree programs. The university's published 2026-2027 curricula for both degrees do not list Darija as a regular required subject.
The focus carries particular relevance in Spain, where Moroccan nationals constitute the country's largest foreign-nationality population. Spain's National Statistics Institute counted 968,999 Moroccan citizens residing in the country as of January 1, 2025, representing 14% of all foreign nationals. For future doctors and nurses, even basic familiarity with Darija can provide a practical communication tool when interacting with Moroccan-speaking patients.
The initiative also comes amid growing academic engagement between the Canary Islands and Morocco. In July, a University of La Laguna delegation held meetings with Moroccan higher-education institutions to explore cooperation in training, research, innovation, and knowledge transfer. University of La Laguna Rector Francisco García Rodríguez also traveled to Laayoune and Dakhla in Morocco's Western Sahara.
During the visit, La Laguna and Ibn Zohr University signed an agreement covering medical humanities, narrative medicine, clinical ethics, and anthropology, alongside provisions for student and researcher mobility and joint projects. The visit also explored broader cooperation in areas including public health, telemedicine, renewable energy, water management, and the blue economy. This cooperation highlights the growing connection between the Canary Islands and Morocco.
Rather than treating Arabic solely as an academic subject, the seminar places spoken Moroccan Arabic in a practical professional setting, linking language learning with everyday communication between two closely connected neighboring societies. This approach enables students to develop a deeper understanding of Moroccan culture and language, ultimately enhancing their ability to interact with Moroccan-speaking patients and communities.
Key points
- The University of La Laguna offers a Moroccan Arabic seminar to improve communication between medical and nursing students and Moroccan-speaking patients.
- The initiative is part of growing academic engagement between the Canary Islands and Morocco.
- The seminar focuses on practical communication, combining language instruction with cultural, historical, and geographical themes.
