Tunisian Arabic in 30 Lessons: A Course in Tunsi: The Spoken Language in Tunisia

This is an enjoyable, easy to read and practical handbook to learn Tunisian Arabic, the spoken language of Tunisia. Tunisian Arabic, like Egyptian, Moroccan and Syrian, for instance, is a colloquial spoken form of Modern Standard Arabic. However, unlike MSA, it is a real and natural language that is spoken in real life, by real people in real life situations. Standard Arabic is not in reality a spoken language: it is not spoken naturally by native speakers of Arabic anywhere in the world. It is mainly rather a formal written form used to read the news, in formal seminaries, or read in books and newspapers. Hence, you will never find an Arabic speaker say to a friend: 'kaifa Haaluka?" (MSA: how are you?), but rather: "shnuwa aHwaalik?" in Tunisia, "kiif Haalak?" in gulf countries, "izzayak?" in Egypt, etc... This book is intended to help visitors to Tunisia explore and enjoy Tunisian culture in an authentic way, by familiarizing with one facet of its identity: its spoken vernacular! It is also helpful to people who wish to communicate in Tunisian Arabic with Tunisians worldwide, but also with speakers of related Arabic dialects in general, like Egyptian, Libyan, Syrian and Gulf dialects. Finally, this is a funny and instructive book for readers who enjoy discovering exotic foreign languages…and who are always keen to learn new exotic foreign languages! Two related external resources are dedicated to this book, a blog and a facebook page: http://tunisianarabic24.blogspot.com/ http://www.facebook.com/tunisianarabic1 Here there will be constant updates, events and news, such as book signing ceremonies in Tunisia and a forum for reader's comments, feedback and discussions. Complementary learning material, mainly audiolingual, will be posted in these internet pages too! After reading this book and with some practice, with other readers of "TA in 30 Lessons", (that would ideally take place in Tunisia!) you will be able, to really speak and genuinely communicate in Tunisian Arabic!