Quote by Abdelkebir Khatibi: “I think in one language and I dream in another.”

Living between two languages means your inner world is split — your logic and your deepest self live in different spaces. For postcolonial writers, this is not just a linguistic quirk but a wound: the colonizer's language thinks for you, while the mother tongue dreams.

Khatibi developed his theory of the 'bi-langue' in the 1970s and 1980s, during Morocco's process of Arabization of its educational system, which created new tensions between French-educated elites and Arabic-speaking populations. His work explored colonialism's lasting effect on language and identity.

Moroccan sociologist, novelist, and philosopher who wrote in French and Arabic, developing the concept of 'bi-langue' — the creative tension of thinking and living between two languages. His 1971 autobiographical novel Love in Two Languages is his most celebrated literary work.