WHAT MAKES "ARABIC EXPRESS" SO UNIQUE?
"ARABIC EXPRESS" does away with the myth, widely believed by students, that Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), which is primarily written Arabic, enables you to speak with ordinary people in the street. The "ARABIC EXPRESS" coursebook does the pioneering work of presenting, contextually, a comprehensive grammar of spoken Arabic, the Arabic used in everyday oral communication between Arabs. Modern Standard Arabic, which is the version reserved for reading and writing, receives an equally thorough treatment in parallel to the spoken. You are then in a perfect position to compare, contrast and use each in its correct setting, for its exact purpose.

WHY LEARN AN ARABIC DIALECT (SPOKEN ARABIC)?
Unlike Standard English, as previously mentioned, Modern Standard Arabic is not spoken in everyday conversation between Arabs. Standard Arabic is confined to the media, literature, textbooks, letter writing, and formal speech making and interviews. People use dialect to speak with each other. Using Standard Arabic in shops, on the bus or to ask for directions is likely to be met with a smile. What’s more, the average native speaker would be reluctant to respond in MSA. Having had no practice, though they may be able to somehow manage the task, they will find it awkwardly artificial. It is like using Shakespearean English to buy a loaf of bread. It is like saying: ‘How art thou?’ instead of ‘How are you?’

WHICH ARABIC DIALECT TO LEARN?
Any Middle-Eastern dialect would help you communicate from Iraq in the east, to Yemen in the south, and to Egypt in the west. Tunisia, Libya, Algeria and Morocco have their own similar dialects. These are difficult for Middle-Easterners to understand. An Algerian would have to dilute their dialect with much Standard Arabic, despite the awkwardness that would bring, if they are to be understood by an Iraqi, and vice versa.

Lebanese, Syrian, and Egyptian are the most widely understood dialects in the Arab world. This is thanks to television and cinema. Their own prolifically produced popular films and/or soaps, along with those dubbed from other languages into Levantine Arabic and widely distributed, have further enhanced these three dialects’ exposure. Lebanese and Egyptian songs are also the most extensively listened to. That's why the Lebanese dialect (which belongs to the  Levantine family of dialects, spoken also in Jordan, Palestine and Syria) is taught in this book alongside MSA.