This book presents a comprehensive foundation course for beginning students of written and spoken Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), providing an essential grounding for successful communication with speakers of the many colloquial varieties. This long-established and successful text has been completely revised with the needs of English-speaking learners especially in mind, and will prove invaluable to students and teachers alike. Step-by-step guide to understanding written and spoken texts Develops conversational ability as well as reading and writing skills Arabic-English Glossary containing 2600 entries Fresh texts and dialogues containing up-to-date data on the Middle East and North Africa Includes Arab folklore, customs, proverbs, and short essays on contemporary topicsGrammatical terms also given in Arabic enabling students to attend language courses in Arab countries Provides a wide variety of exercises and drills to reinforce grammar points, vocabulary learning and communicative strategies Includes a key to the exercisesAccompanying cassettes also available