WHAT MAKES THIS BOOK UNIQUE?

This book 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. This 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 SPOKEN ARABIC (A DIALECT)?

Unlike Standard English, as previously mentioned, Modern Standard Arabic is not spoken in everyday conversation. Standard Arabic is confined to the media, literature, 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?’

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.

Egyptian, Lebanese and Syrian 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 Lebanese and Syrian and widely distributed, have further enhanced these three dialects’ exposure. Lebanese and Egyptian songs are also the most extensively listened to. 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.

'ARABIC EXPRESS' is a unique book in that it is the first to present spoken Arabic and its grammar, with the great facilitation of the Roman script, in a comprehensive, systematic and coherent manner, alongside Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), which is presented in the book in Arabic script (MSA being not spoken in everyday life and reserved for literature, the media, textbooks, writing letters...). All units contain audio components for language practice, pronunciation and language modelling purposes.

The book's material has produced literate students and native-like speakers of Arabic, which can be attested by the directors at UNSW Institute of languages, where the author has taught for over a decade. The book has been addressing the language needs of Anglo-Australians, as well as those of descendents of the Arab diaspora. Lebanese is an advantageous Levantine dialect to learn in the English-speaking world, because it is one of those better understood in the Arabic speaking world, thanks to film, song and dubbed foreign series' diffusion.

The book has been an academic and linguistic labour of love, feedback, adjustment and fine tuning in the classroom over many years. Its learner-friendly style shapes its versatility, making it ideal for use by independent learners, in high school, and in a university classroom.

If you want a complete Arabic course, enabling you to read, write and speak like a native speaker, then this is the book for you.