Happywanderer

Hello all!  My language skills have become so rusty.  I used to work in linguistics ( Arabic to English and a bit of Spanish and Farsi as well) but since I became a nurse, I have forgotten so much.  Perhaps this forum will give me a chance to revive some of those skills.

I grew up in South Florida, so have had exposure to Spanish. I studies it in high school and college too.  I studied Arabic professionally for a few years.  I attempted Farsi but have forgotten most of it. I took a year of Italian in college.  Wish I had the time to just study language all day.

If one has already studied MSA, what would be the easiest dialect to learn? That is, closest to MSA?  I have some experience with Iraqi and Levantine but never really picked up either.

I thought Arabic shows and movies were mostly in Egyptian dialect, as I was taught that Egypt is the Hollywood of the Middle East. Where would one find material from other countries? Any good Internet sites? I live in a small town and I think I'd have to pay an arm and a leg for foreign channels.

I learned in a few days.  The initial, medial, and final forums of the letters confused me at first but I kept reminding myself that it's like cursive.