Grand Erg Occidental Grand Erg Occidental The Grand Erg Occidental (, al-ʿIrq al-Gharbī al-Kabīr), (also known as the Western Sand Sea) is the second largest erg in northern Algeria after the Grand Erg Oriental. It covers an area of approximately . The sand dunes in the erg are formed by the wind, and can be up to high. Certain crescent-shaped dunes, known as barchans, are actually mobile; the wind can push these dunes as much as 20 to 30 m (65-100 ft) in one year. It is a desert natural region that receives less than 50 mm (1,96 in) of rainfall per year.
Influence of Arabic on other languages non-maghrebi French speakers. Arabic-derived words have entered standard or metropolitan French from two main sources. As is the case for many other European languages, one principal source was Spanish. The other was directly from Maghrebi Arabic as a result of the occupation and colonisation of the Maghreb, particularly Algeria, in the 19th and 20th centuries. Examples of the latter include 'bled', a slang term for place of origin, following this word's usage in the Maghreb, as opposed to the Standard Arabic "balad", 'country', along with the Maghrebi term 'kif kif' and 'tabeeb', a slang term for 'doctor'. A small number