For a few days, I am on travel for my job. I am in New Orleans and arrived here yesterday. When I got a cab (taxi) at the airport, the driver (سائق - sa’iq) was from the Middle East. So, I was able to say “thank you” (شكرا - shukran) in Arabic, which certainly he wasn’t expecting. Then, I was able to say some other things, in a mix of colloquial Egyptian (when I knew what to say) or otherwise I used the standard Arabic. I don’t think he was from Egypt (I think he was from Bahrain, judging by the newspaper he was reading), but the Egyptian dialect is pretty well understood thanks to popularity of Egyptian films.
I explained that I was on a business trip (أسافر في شغل - isafar fi shughal), and that I was here for a few days (”ha’ud ka zayohm”), which is Egyptian colloquial. In standard Arabic, a few days is عدة أيام - “ada ayam”.
I also was able to explain why I knew or was learning Arabic:
أدرس العربية لأن سأسفار إلى مصر هذا صيف

This translates as saying “I am studying Arabic, because I will be traveling to Egypt this summer.” Then, I was able to say “shukran. da a’la shehnak” - this means in colloquial Egyptian Arabic, “thanks, this is for you” (my cab fare and tip)

I’m sure I wasn’t speaking perfect Arabic, but did pretty well I think. The driver wasn’t sure that I could speak English, which of course I can, but he understood what I said in Arabic and I could understand him. In all, this was great practice and helps in building my confidence. I am somewhat hesitant to speak up in Arabic, because I know my vocabulary, grammar, and grasp of colloquial Arabic is still limited.

This is a song by Tamer Hosny, Yara, Ramy Ayash, Ganat, and Haytham Shaker, called أمي ثم أمي (My mother, and then, my mother). Like many songs, this one is sung in Egyptian colloquial dialect, which helps to highlight differences in Egyptian colloquial and Modern Standard Arabic.

Here are the lyrics for the first line:

بعد الحب ده ايه الى تعمل كل ده تستاهل ايه بعد الحب ده ايه الى تدى حنان كده من غير حساب نبوس التراب الى مشيه عليه

With these words, the first line of the song roughly translates as:

“After this love
What does she does all of this deserve
After this love, what
She who gives affection like this without asking for anything in return;
We kiss the ground she walks upon”

The standard word to use for apologizing is آسف (asif) and آسفة (asifa). This word is appropriate in formal or business situations.

In casual situations, there are some other colloquial (local dialect) words to use for apologizing. In Morocco, the word سمحلي (smahali) is used to apologize. This word literally means “forgive me”. The word is appropriate to use if you are late, need to get one’s attention, etc. This is also a good word for women to know, since unfortunately harassment does happen.

There have been other incidents where men would follow me in their cars down the street - pulling up and stopping, trying to talk to me as I stomped past them, then pulling ahead again and stopping. They didn’t care if I said I had a husband, but once I said that my husband was Moroccan, their expressions morphed from leering to fearful. With lots of “smahali”s, they would zip away immediately. - (Harassment in North Africa)

If someone says “smahli” or “asif”, you can respond and say “not a problem” by saying ليست مشكلة (layset muskila) in formal situations. To respond to “smahli” in Moroccan dialect (casual situations), you can say “makaen mushkil”.