Resources for learning Arabic

Intro: the dialects

The different dialects of Arabic are so different that in some sense they could be considered more like different languages rather than dialects. For example, most people in Jordan will be unable to understand someone from Morocco, even though technically they both speak "Arabic." One way to look at it is that the dialects are like the various Romance languages (French, Spanish, Portuguese, etc.), and Modern Standard Arabic is like Latin.

Arabic script

The Arabic script is the second-most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world. Even if you don't think you need to learn it, if you want to learn Arabic, you should. It is actually not as difficult as it may look and will not take long to learn.

• Alif Baa by Kristen Brustad et al

Modern Standard Arabic

Formal Arabic, used in news, media, and print. has the same grammar as classical (Quranic) Arabic, with an updated vocabulary. If you learn this, you will be understood across the Arab world, but people will probably respond to you in their dialect, and you will have trouble understanding them. as such, you should probably learn the dialect for the area you wish to go and learn Modern Standard Arabic afterward.

• Pimsleur Modern Standard Arabic
  (more on Pimsleur: Pimsleur: the best way to learn a language)
• Rosetta Stone

Levantine Arabic

Spoken in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan. There are differences in how this dialect is spoken in each of these countries, but they're relatively minor.

• Pimsleur Eastern Arabic
  Teaches the accent from Damascus, Syria, but useful for all over the Levant.
  (more on Pimsleur: Pimsleur: the best way to learn a language)
• Syrian Colloquial Arabic by Mary-Jane Liddicoat et al
  A bit pricey if you want a hard copy, but the only decent book I've found for learning Levantine Arabic. in particular, it 1. uses the arabic script, 2. is nearly error-free (rare for most books for learning Arabic), 3. has great audio.
  
• The 101 Most Used Verbs in Spoken Arabic: Jordan and Palestine by Fridrik E. Tiedemann Jr.
  Hard to come by, but a great resource for learning Levantine Arabic verbs and forms, including example sentences for each verb and all its forms as well as audio in English and Arabic.

Egyptian Arabic

Spoken in Egypt, understood by most Arabs since most Arabic films and television shows are made in Egypt. Even so, I would still only recommend learning Egyptian Arabic if you're going to Egypt, because if you use it elsewhere people may understand you, but you probably won't understand them.

• Pimsleur Egyptian Arabic
  (more on Pimsleur: Pimsleur: the best way to learn a language)

Iraqi Arabic

Spoken in Iraq.

• Modern Iraqi Arabic by Yasin Alkalesi
• Iraqi Tutor