Arabic.

Arabic is a great language. The most important facet of it is, of course, that it's fun to be able to read and write a new script. It's nice to go through pages of notes in a new script and go, "Wow! I did that!"


Although it has a lot of exceptions, there's also a lot about it that makes sense; many words that share a theme also share three consonants. For example, a lot of words that have to do with writing include the consonants k-t-b.

book: kitaab
desk: maktab
library: maktaba
write: niktab [or something like that - I only ever heard it spoken]

At ILI, my language school, I learned both modern standard Arabic [MSA] - the Arabic spoken on, say, Al Jazeera but not many other places - and Egyptian colloquial Arabic [ECA]. Each country/region has its own dialect, and it can be pretty hard for them to understand each other. If you'd like to learn Arabic, I recommend learning only one at a time - MSA or ECA [or whatever dialect of the country you're in]. It was difficult to learn two different words for the same thing and keep track of which was which. In fact, after a while, I stopped caring about MSA and mostly just focused on ECA - when/if I go back, I will only take ECA.

Take MSA if you need Arabic for your studies, if you want to read the Quran, if you want to work for Al Jazeera, etc.

Take the local dialect if you're more interested in talking to people on the streets and getting to know the locals, not getting swindled at the market*, etc.

Take both at the same time only if you have a strong need for both. Otherwise, I'd recommend focusing on one before even thinking about the other one.

I went to the International Language Institute [ILI] in Cairo. They're part of the International House network, and I had already had good experiences with the International House in Freiburg. I wasn't disappointed - as in Freiburg, the classes in Cairo were taught by enthusiastic, fun, interesting AND interested teachers, and I learned a lot every day. I highly recommend it for the classes alone, but they also provide nice lodging and reasonably priced food if you want it, organize group tours to some of the tourist destinations [can be a bit pricier than you could otherwise find, but you can be certain that everything's legit], and are generally nice, friendly, and helpful.


*Yasmin, the half-Egyptian half-Norwegian, wanted to buy a pack of cigarettes from a stall in the bazaar. She asked for them in English and then heard the shopkeeper tell his wife in Arabic, "Tell her the price has gone up to 25 pounds [$4.30]." She understood him AND she already knew that a pack is less than half that - ten pounds - so she said something to him in Arabic and he gave her a sheepish grin and sold them to her for ten. One of my goals with Arabic is to know enough to surprise anyone who might try the same thing on me.