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”

Another site that I have found very useful is http://www.arabicmusictranslation.com/, which has lyrics to songs in Arabic, with translations to English.

Songs include different types of phrases, some that are used in day-to-day speech. Many of the songs are also sung in a dialect (often Egyptian colloquial). For example, the phrase ايه يعني (aaya ya’ni) which translates as “so what?” in English.

The person behind the Arabic lyrics site recently started a second web site, http://egyptianarabiccourse.blogspot.com/ where he focuses on the Egyptian colloquial dialect with examples from song and more detailed explanations of the lyrics. This looks very useful, since colloquial is the day-to-day spoken language and is essential to learn these types of phrases.

In my class, I am learning Modern Standard Arabic, which is the formal way of speaking. It is used in the news media, in formal or business situations, giving a conference presentation, etc. However, on the streets of Cairo, the local dialect spoken is quite a bit different. When I get to Egypt and speak standard Arabic, people will understand but it may sound funny to them. So, as I am learning standard Arabic, I am also paying attention to how things are different in Egyptian colloquial.

Differences start with pronunciation of some letters, particularly the ق (qaf) which is instead pronounced as a “glottal stop”. In standard Arabic, one would say قهوة (qahua) for “coffee”, but in the Egyptian dialect, it is ‘ahua.

Another difference is when asking where something is. In standard Arabic, you would say أينَ الحمام؟ (ayna al-hamam) - “where is the bathroom?”. The question word in the Egyptian dialect is “feyn”, so you would ask “feyn al-hamam”. Another word for bathroom in the Egyptian dialect is تواليت (twalit), which obviously is a borrowed word from English.

When I started learning Arabic a year ago, the first thing I got was a pocket travel phrase book / dictionary. It has proved very useful, allowing me to learn some of the most practical, everyday words and things useful for a traveler to know. The pocket phrase book that I have has the standard Arabic spelled out in Arabic script, but it also gives the colloquial words, helping familiarize myself with how colloquial and standard Arabic differ.