Arabic Today: A Student, Business & Professional Course

I really love this book as it is one of the few which manages to strike some kind of balance between the written language and the spoken colloquials. Few people really realise just how divergent the spoken 3ammiya versions of modern Arabic differ from the official,literary version which is the same in all Arabic speaking countries (but which no-one actually "speaks"). This book tries to present typical colloquial features that cross the various national dialects as well as pointing out certain regional peculiarities (which can really only be fully learned by living among native speakers). Moreover, having presented the spoken language it then goes on to present modern, literary Arabic (alFusha) in a very practical and relevant way. I really recommend this book to anyone wanting to get a foothold in modern (spoken and written Arabic).