New to Amara: Tamazight!

We are proud to announce that Amara added a new language available for subtitling: Tamazight! 

Now Amara users like you can add subtitles in Tamazight to videos. Select it from the dropdown menu and then enter the Amara Subtitle Editor to start subtitles. Search “Tamazight” or the language code “zgh” to find it quickly in the language dropdown menu.

The Tamazight Language

Tamazight is also known as Standard Moroccan Amazigh. It was created as a standard written form for several Amazigh languages spoken in the Maghreb region of North Africa. Tamazight is used in parts of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania, and several other areas. 

Having a standard written form for a language can help preserve some ideas, vocabulary, and identity of original languages. It is a challenge to preserve meaning through standardization. But it is also a promising way to revitalize languages before they become endangered.

Tamazight is written in the Tifinagh script which is an abjad writing system. For abjads, like Arabic and Hebrew, each character is associated with a consonant sound. When spoken, the vowel sounds are often inferred by speakers through the context of their dialect.

The Amazigh People

The Amazigh population totals to around 40 million people spread across several countries. Tamazight is an institutional language. This means that some Amazigh children are taught to write Tamazight in schools as a standard form of writing.

Even though the standard Tamazight is taught in schools, the Amazigh people still struggle to preserve their unique language identity. Although the 2011 Moroccan constitutional amendment gives Amazigh parents the absolute right to name their children Amazigh names, Amazigh people are still facing intimidation and difficulty at the birth registration office when they decide to use Amazigh names. As recently as 2020, Amazigh parents have been prevented from giving their babies Amazigh names in Morocco. 

We are proud to welcome Tamazight to the Amara family. Adding new languages to our platform is part of Amara’s mission of global accessibility. Happy subtitling!

Feature Image credit: Connormah under Creative Commons license

Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Tamazight

Where is Tamazight spoken?

Standard Moroccan Tamazight has been the official language of Morocco since 2011. There are other related languages like Standard Algerian Tamazight in the afro-asiatic family of languages spoken across Northern Africa.

Is Tamazight a popular language?

Tamazight, or Standard Moroccan, is an institutional language according to Ethnologue which means it is supported through institutions outside of people’s homes and local communities. It is not an endangered language.

How can someone request a new language on Amara?

Anyone can request a new language on Amara. We want to make it as easy as possible to start subtitling. Email us at support@amara.org with the exact name of the language, its ISO 639 code, and its reading direction so we can pass it along to our production team!

What is Tamazight’s language code?

Standard Moroccan Tamazight has an ISO 639 language code of “zgh” which you can find in Amara’s available subtitling languages!