bitala بطالة
Moroccan Darija · noun
“bitala” (بطالة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning unemployment.
Meanings
- unemployment
Usage
BiTala refers to unemployment, both as a social phenomenon and as a personal situation. The word comes from the written language and is heard mainly in the media, in discussions about youth employment, and in administrative vocabulary. In everyday conversation, people more readily say "chômage", borrowed from French, or describe the situation: ma khddamch, ga3ed f dar. An unemployed person is called mo3aTTal or chômeur. Typical construction: lbiTala kathra f lbled, "unemployment is widespread in the country".
Example
البطالة كثيرة بزاف عند الشباب
lbiTala ktira bzaf 3nd chabab
“Unemployment is very high among young people.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “bitala” but also “betala” and “bi6ala”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 6 is emphatic ta (ط).
Type “bitala” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “unemployment”; “idleness, lack of work”: btala in Tunisian.