Hi all!
I’ve decided to rekindle my Arabic. My main interest is speaking dialects, which is somewhat challenging because I like to learn languages through reading (given that written materials in Arabic are mostly in Modern Standard Arabic).
Does anyone have experience learning Levantine or Egyptian dialects? If so, what resources do you recommend? To what degree are the dialects mutually intelligible?
I would ideally like to learn Levantine Arabic, however I’ve found many more materials with Egyptian dialect. I am a bit concerned that if I will burn through such limited resources for dialects.
Materials:
Books: I generally like to use supplementary materials such as Assimil to launch a new language. However, the Assimil series is in MSA (and doesn’t seem to be the best for Arabic). I found the self-teaching series Colloquial Egyptian Arabic which seems solid but brief. Additionally, I found a book that looks wonderful called Syrian Colloquial Arabic, a Functional Course by M. Liddicoat.
Other resources for dialects that I’ve found include Pimsuler, LanguageTransfer, Mango Languages, and Lingualism materials (Arabic Voices).
Any advice would be appreciated!