btala بطالة
Tunisian Derja · noun
“btala” (بطالة) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning unemployment.
Meanings
- unemployment
- idleness, lack of work
Usage
Btala means unemployment, in the economic sense as well as the personal one. The word is very common in discussions about the state of the country, often paired with fa9r (poverty) and young graduates. People say fama barcha btala, "there is a lot of unemployment", or ena fi btala, "I'm unemployed". An unemployed person is called battal. The word comes from Standard Arabic but is fully integrated into derja; the usual pronunciation drops the first vowel. Neutral register, used in speech as well as in the press.
Example
البطالة كثرت برشا في الجهات
el btala kthret barcha fil jihet
“Unemployment has risen a lot in the regions.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “btala” but also “batala” and “bitala”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “btala” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “unemployment”: bitala in Moroccan.