There are several varieties or dialects of Arabic: Eastern Arabic, Egyptian Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic, Iraqi Arabic and others not mentioned here.

Modern Standard Arabic is the formal Arabic that is written and read throughout the contemporary Arab world. It is widely used in newspapers, books, radio, television, and universities, and is widely read and understood throughout the Arab world. Arab speakers from two diferent countries may use Modern Standard Arabic when speaking to each other. It is the form of Arabic taught in schools of the Arab world and is essentially the same in every country. We suggest that you start by learning Modern Standard Arabic.
Scroll down for books and audio courses in Modern Standard Arabic.
Go here for software for learning Modern Standard Arabic

Colloquial Eastern (Levantine) Arabic is spoken in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine. Some observers say that Lebanese is a separate language unto itself.

Colloquial Egyptian Arabic is used in some literature, on Egyptian TV (available by satellite in many countries) by a movie industry based in Egypt and in some movies seen throughout much of the Arab world. The dialect of Egyptian Arabic spoken in Cairo is widely understood in much of the urbanized Arabic-speaking world. If you learn Colloquial Egyptian Arabic you will be understood in much of the Arab world.

Saudi Arabic is spoken on the Arabian Peninsula (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen Oman, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Bahrain). There are wide variations in these countries, and within these countries. However, you should be understood if you speak one of these dialects.

Classical Arabic is used by Muslim scholars and constitutes an enormous wealth of tradition loved and revered in the Arab world. We do not currently offer any books on Classical Arabic.

Arabic is in great demand at the State Department and by the military and intelligence services. It will be needed more and more for the rebuilding of Iraq, the introduction of technology into the Middle East, and for travel.

Although spoken Arabic is nowhere near as hard as it appears to be, learning Arabic is no trivial task, so MarHaba and get cracking!

Books and Audio for learning Arabic (on this page)
Software for learning Arabic
Arabic On-Line Dictionaries (on this page)
Arabic Translating (on this page)
Arabic Radio and TV (on this page)
Arabic Newspapers and Magazines (on this page)
Arabic Websites and Portals (on this page)
Arabic Search Engines (on this page)
Websites for learning Arabic (on this page)

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Books for learning Arabic

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Modern Standard Arabic Vocabulary Clinic (Software CD) By AUC Press Software for learning Modern Standard Arabic. You can listen to the words spoken and record your own voice. Inspect/Order Modern Standard Arabic Vocabulary Clinic (Software CD)

The Top 1,000 Words for Understanding Media Arabic By Elisabeth Kendall Modern Standard Arabic. Learn the words you need to understand Arabic news. Most are words that you would not find in a dictionary. There are sections on politics, elections, military, economics, trade & industry, law & order, disaster & aid. Inspect/Order The Top 1,000 Words for Understanding Media Arabic

Al-Kitaab fii Ta'allum al-'Arabiyya: A Textbook for Beginning Arabic, Part One By Kristen Brustad Modern Standard Arabic. A good book for the first year student in Modern Standard Arabic. Inspect/Order Al-Kitaab fii Ta'allum al-'Arabiyya

Ahlan wa Sahlan: An Introduction to Modern Standard Arabic By Mahdi Alosh of Ohio State University Modern Standard Arabic. Readers give good reviews on the book. They say the CD's are good, but have some annoying features. Ahlan wa Sahlan means "welcome!" Inspect/Order Ahlan wa Sahlan Click here for Audio CD's

Alif Baa: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds By Kristen Brustad If you can say the title, you know two letters of the Arabic alphabet. If you are serious about learning Arabic, you'll need to master the writing system of Arabic that is so uniquely and beautifully suited to the Arabic language. This will open the way to newspapers, and the wealth of literature in Arabic. Inspect/Order Alif Baa: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds

Your First 100 Words in Arabic: Beginner's Quick & Easy Guide to Demystifying Non-Roman Scripts By Jane Wightwick, Mahmoud Gaafar If Arabic script is intimidating, we recommend this book which gives you a basic vocabulary of 100 Arabic words with a minimum of pain. Inspect/Order Your First 100 Words in Arabic

Mastering Arabic (Hippocrene Books) By Jane Wightwick Mastering Arabic has received great reviews. It is for beginners interested in serious study of Arabic who want to achieve basic ability with the language. It will prepare you for more advanced study. You will learn Arabic script with this book. The price is exceptionally low for a high quality book. Inspect/order Mastering Arabic from Amazon.com Inspect/order The audio cassette for this book from Amazon.com

Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic By Karin C. Ryding A useable grammar of Modern Standard Arabic. Essential for the serious student of Arabic. Inspect/order Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic from Amazon.com

A New Arabic Grammar of the Written Language By John A. Haywood A grammar of Classical and Modern Standard Arabic. Not for colloquial, spoken Arabic. Inspect/order A New Arabic Grammar of the Written Language from Amazon.com

Modern Written Arabic: A Comprehensive Grammar By Elsaid Badawi Unravels today's Arabic as it appears in literature, newspapers and even street signs. For the intermediate and advanced student of Arabic. Inspect/order Modern Written Arabic: A Comprehensive Grammar from Amazon.com

Tales from Kalila Wa Dimna: For Students of Arabic By a Munther Younes 41 stories in Modern Standard Arabic and 5 in Classical Arabic that will challenge your ability in Arabic and aid you in increasing your vocabulary and speaking ability. Inspect/order Tales from Kalila Wa Dimna from Amazon.com

Arabic Verbs and Essentials of Grammar: A Practical Guide to the Mastery of Arabic By Mahmoud Gaafar Explains Arabic verbs for the beginner and intermediate student of Arabic. Inspect/order Arabic Verbs and Essentials of Grammar from Amazon.com

Pimsleur Instant Conversation Arabic (Eastern) By Pimsleur Colloquial Eastern Arabic. Audio CD. This is the short, abridged course. If you like it you can go on to the larger courses. There is no such thing as "instant conversation with Arabic". This is the Arabic spoken in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. If you are serious about learning Arabic for those countries, this is the way to start. This is NOT Egyptian Arabic. My information is from the Simon and Schuster website. Learn the spoken Arabic language with this excellent course. Inspect/Order Pimsleur Instant Conversation Arabic (Eastern) Click here for Audio Cassette edition

Quick and Simple Arabic (Eastern) By Pimsleur Colloquial Eastern Arabic. Audio Cassette. This is the Arabic spoken in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. This will get you started for a small amount of money. There is no such thing as "Quick and Simple Arabic". This is NOT Egyptian Arabic. My information is from the Simon and Schuster website. This is the spoken language only. Inspect/Order Quick and Simple Arabic (Eastern) Click here for Audio CD edition

Unabridged Arabic (Eastern) By Pimsleur Colloquial Eastern Arabic. Audio Cassette. This is the full, unabridged course. Amazon is confused about which is abridged and which is unabridged. Their descriptions are generally wrong. This is the Arabic spoken in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. If you are serious about learning Arabic for those countries, this is the way to start. This is NOT Egyptian Arabic. My information is from the Simon and Schuster website. This is the spoken language only. Published August 1, 2003. Inspect/Order Unabridged Arabic (Eastern) Click here for Audio CD edition

Unabridged Arabic (Eastern) By Pimsleur Colloquial Eastern Arabic. Audio Cassette. This is the full, unabridged course. Amazon is confused about which is abridged and which is unabridged. Their descriptions are generally wrong. This is the Arabic spoken in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. If you are serious about learning Arabic for those countries, this is the way to start. This is NOT Egyptian Arabic. My information is from the Pimsleur website. This is the spoken language only. Published September 1, 1997. Learn Arabic with this complete course. Inspect/Order Unabridged Arabic (Eastern)

Compact Arabic (Egyptian) By Pimsleur Colloquial Egyptian Arabic. Audio Cassette. This is the Arabic spoken in Egypt. It is widely understood throughout the Arab world. This is the spoken language only. This is a short course. It is a Compact course - there are 10 lessons. Published September 1, 1997. Amazon is confused about which is the corresponding CD course. A good start in learning Egyptian Arabic. Inspect/Order Compact Arabic (Egyptian)

Comprehensive Arabic (Egyptian) By Pimsleur Colloquial Egyptian Arabic. Audio Cassette. This is the full, unabridged course. Amazon is confused about which is abridged and which is unabridged. This is the Arabic spoken in Egypt. It is widely understood throughout the Arab world. This is the spoken language only. Published November 1, 2001. A in-depth course for Egyptian Arabic. Inspect/Order Comprehensive Arabic (Egyptian) Click here for Audio CD edition

Al-kitaab fii Ta'allum Al-'Arabiyya By Kristen Brustad Colloquial Egyptian Arabic. This course, with video and audio, teaches grammar, reading, Arab culture and speaking. Inspect/Order Al-kitaab fii Ta'allum Al-'Arabiyya

Iraqi Arabic Dialect Orientation Course By Joe Kallu, Abdullatif El-Nekishbendy Colloquial Iraqi Arabic. Audio CD. This is the Arabic spoken in Iraq. This course is NOT for beginners in Arabic. You must know Arabic already. It introduces you to the Arabic spoken in Iraq. This is the spoken language only. Learn to communicate with Iraquis in their own dialect. Inspect/Order Iraqi Arabic Dialect Orientation Course

Modern Iraqi Arabic: A Textbook By Yasin M. Alkalesi Colloquial Iraqi Arabic. Accompanied by six audio CD's, this book is for beginners or those who know some Arabic and want to learn the Iraqi dialect. Inspect/Order Modern Iraqi Arabic: A Textbook

Iraqi Phrasebook: The Complete Language Guide for Contemporary Iraq By Yasin M. Alkalesi Colloquial Iraqi Arabic. Very low-priced and up to date (Published March 2004) this useful phrasebook for Iraqi Arabic gives you Arabic phrases with a (relatively) easy-to-read transliteration of the Arabic with English characters and pronunciation. It organizes phrases by topics and contains sentences actually needed by travelers, medical and security personnel. The book is for the beginner. Not specifically intended for the military. Inspect/Order Iraqi Phrasebook: The Complete Language Guide for Contemporary Iraq

A Basic Course in Iraqi Arabic By Wallace M. Erwin Colloquial Iraqi Arabic. Audio CD. From Georgetown Classics in Arabic Language and Linguistics) [MP3 AUDIO]. For beginners in Arabic. Teaches the spoken language only. It contains a CD-ROM with audio MP3 files that aid in pronunciation and practice. The book does not introduce Arabic script. Words are transcribed in Latin characters. Start learning to communicate with Iraqis. Inspect/Order A Basic Course in Iraqi Arabic

A Dictionary of Iraqi Arabic: English, Arabic/Arabic, English By Beverly E. Clarity Colloquial Iraqi Arabic. The ideal dictionary to accompany the preceding Audio book. In this dictionary, colloquial Iraqi words are written in Latin characters. Traditional Arabic dictionaries use Arabic script and contain words for Modern Standard Arabic, making them hard to use when you need the colloquial, spoken language that is not generally written. A serious student of Arabic will learn Modern Standard Arabic in addition to any colloquial dialect that is needed. A good reference for learners of Iraqi Arabic. Inspect/Order A Dictionary of Iraqi Arabic: English, Arabic/Arabic, English

An Amazon.com customer has produced a useful list of books on colloquial Arabic dialects.

Standard Arabic: An Elementary-Intermediate Course By Eckehard Schulz A complete course for learning written and spoken Modern Standard Arabic. You will learn to speak, read and write the Arabic that is used in print and in multiple countries. Inspect/Order Standard Arabic: An Elementary-Intermediate Course

Multilingual Books FSI Arabic Basic Course CD By Foreign Service Institute The Urban Hijazi Dialect of Saudi Arabic is widely understood on the Arabian peninsula. There are 15 CD's in this course created by the State Department. Inspect/Order Multilingual Books FSI Arabic Basic Course

The Assimil method for learning Modern Standard Arabic. It's worth waiting for delivery. Assimil Arabic

Arabic On-Line Dictionaries Top of Page English-Arabic dictionary From dicts.info Type the English word in the "search for" box, click on "beginning", "exact", or "fulltext". Arabic only. No transliteration. English-Arabic Dictionary From Babylon.com

Arabic Language Translating Top of Page

Arabic Radio and TV Top of Page Internet broadcasts change their addresses frequently. These were accurate as of Feb 2008. Arabic Radio VOA Shortwave schedule From VOA. Listen on your shortwave radio BBC Arabic Arabic radio Radio Free Iraq Funded by the U.S. Government Arabic radio Radio Free Europe Die Deutche Welle - Arabic Die Deutche Welle - Arabic Arabic radio The Voice of Russia. Arabic Arabic radio Radio Canada Internationale. Arabic Arabic radio Radio Sweden. Click on Arabic Arabic TV Watch live TV on the Internet List of stations. Watch Arabic TV online From Jerusalem Click on "Arabic" in upper right.

Arabic Newspapers and Magazines Top of Page Magazines from Middle East Newspapers from Middle East

Arabic Websites and Portals Top of Page

Arabic Search Engines Top of Page Search Engine Google in Arabic

Websites for learning Arabic Top of Page Arabic Script From Omniglot Description of the Arabic language From i-cias.com This is interesting, but has 2 errors. It says that Arabic has 3 declensions but it means 3 cases. It says that Arabic verbs have 2 tenses, but it means aspects, perfective and imperfective. Other than that, it is good. Online Arabic course From i-cias.com

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