203.Algeria-Languages hamper dev

Source:https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21726743-arabic-berber-french-and-hybrid-three-vie-dominance-battle-over

In Algeria, 4 languages dominate:

1. Standard Arabic: one of the official languages;

During the French colonisation, Arabic was banned in the primary school and was judged as a "backward language". After the independence in 1963, the nationalists pushed Arabisation.

In universities, law, religion and politics are studied in Arabic.

2. Berber: the mother tongue of a quarter of the population, with 6 dialects and recognized as an official language in 2016;

3. French: the language of the elite, seen as the "universal vehicle of science and culture" by its advocates. 

Cabinet sessions, business meetings and literacy salons are almost in French.

4. Darija: the Algerian Arabic, the fusion of the former 3 languages and spoken by most of Algerians.