Diglossia: The Biggest Impediment to Learning Arabic

Typically when one begins learning a language, one can expect the material learnt in a course or a book to be immediately applicable for conversation.  This, however, is not the case with Arabic.  While most languages contain various levels of formality or registers, Arabic is perhaps the most classic example of the linguistic phenomenon of diglossia – that is, when the written language differs from the spoken beyond the point of intelligibility.  It can be frustrating, therefore, to spend time in a language course where one believes one is learning Arabic only to realize that what’s been learnt has no utility in a speaking situation.