The linguistic situation in the Arab world is unique. The spoken and written languages are not only quite different from one another, but the spoken language also varies widely from one region to another. The literary language (Modern Standard Arabic or al-fuSHaa) is uniform across the Arabic speaking world from Morocco in the West to the borders of Iran in the east, and from Lebanon in the North to the Sudan in the South. However, the spoken language changes from country to country, and even from city to city. At the Washington Academy of Languages, courses are designed to teach a form of Arabic called Formal Spoken Arabic (also known as "Educated Spoken Arabic," "Inter-Arabic," and "Middle Arabic"), which represents a blend of the major urban colloquial forms. The writing system is also introduced, although in the beginning, the bulk of the written material will be presented in transcription.

Textbook for level 1: Al-Batal, Mahmoud et al., Alif Baa: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds, 2nd ed. (with DVDs). Washington DC: Georgetown University Press, 2004.

Textbook for levels 2-6: Al-Batal, Mahmoud et al., Al-Kitaab: Part I, 2nd ed. (with DVDs). Washington D.C.; Georgetown University Press, 2004.