Arabic Dialect Links

[Meera]

These are courses/websites to learn the various Arabic dialects

Syrian Colloquial Arabic Course

http://www.syrianarabic.com/

DLI Egyptian

https://jlu.wbtrain.com/sumtotal/language/DLI%20basic%20courses/Egyptian%20Arabic/

Speak Moroccan

http://www.speakmoroccan.com/

Gulf Arabic

http://www.gulfarabic.com/

FSI Courses- It has Levantine and Saudi

http://fsi-language-courses.org/Content.php?page=Arabic

ABC Lebanese

http://www.abcleb.com/

AREG

http://arabic.colegioo.com/

(This has MSA and Egyptian)

Lebanese Arabic Learning Material

http://web.archive.org/web/20091028050420/http://www.mdstud.chalmers.se/~eldada/arabic.html

[JoeDirt]

I'm not sure this is a good idea, if people are going to learn Arabic, they better go for the official Arabic language which is spoken in the whole Arab word. These different accents and sub-languages (is this a word?) will only make it hard and confusing for them... Great links though 

[Meera]

I'm not sure this is a good idea, if people are going to learn Arabic, they better go for the official Arabic language which is spoken in the whole Arab word. These different accents and sub-languages (is this a word?) will only make it hard and confusing for them... Great links though 

Yeah but some people are more interested in the dialects that's why I posted it here. Also most universities teach either Egyptian/Levantine along with MSA (they usually use a popular book called "Al kitaab," which teaches MSA along with these two dialects ), so people who are studying formal Arabic may be interested in the dialects also.

[JoeDirt]

Yeah but some people are more interested in the dialects that's why I posted it here. Also most universities teach either Egyptian/Levantine along with MSA (they usually use a popular book called "Al kitaab," which teaches MSA along with these two dialects ), so people who are studying formal Arabic may be interested in the dialects also.

Yeah, I guess you're right, but add links to formal Arabic just in case, I'd personally recommend it. I just wanna make it easier for people to learn this language and explore our beautiful world by reading our books which are usually in formal Arabic.

[BWL]

Learning MSA or al-Fusha is probably a good idea. It allows people access to the wealth of Arabic literature from the vast Arab and Islamic world. However a person who is fluent in Fusha would not be able to communicate in areas like Morocco or Tunisia where the dialects are very different from MSA. I understand a lot of Moroccan when the speakers use a lot of French (ironically) and very little when they pronounce Arabic words according to their own phonological system. It almost sounds like they drop most of the vowels in their words so "coffee" sounds like "qhwa".

[Happywanderer]

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.

[Meera]

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.

That's a really hard question to answer because  it seems to me all Arabs will say their dialect is the closest to MSA. In my opinion I think the easiest is Levantine but especially Syrian. I'm not sure why but I find it to have the most words common with MSA. I think Egyptian, Moroccan, and Iraqi are pretty different. Of course many people also say the Saudi and Gulf dialects are the most similar too. Of course you have to go with which one interests you the most or what country you will be dealing with the most. If you don't have a particular interest in any country I'd say to go for Egyptian or Levantine because they are the most widely known.