Liddicoat M.-J., Lennane R., Abdul Rahim I. Syrian Colloquial Arabic. Audio transcription

Griffith: A Voluntary Female Labour Production, 1999. — 453 p. — ISBN: 0-646-36958-X.Syrian Colloquial Arabic is the first module of the Integrated Arabic series. It deals with modern colloquial Arabic as it is spoken in Syria, with an emphasis on practical, everyday language useful to the foreign resident.
The book leads you through a variety of real-life situations, and the language necessary to deal with them — directing a taxi, negotiating for a hotel room, haggling with the greengrocer, speaking on the telephone, and so on. This practical material has been carefully fitted to a structured exposition of SCA grammar. You may use it for self-study, with a teacher or in a class. Many of the exercises are designed to be done with another person, so if you are studying alone it is worthwhile getting a Syrian friend or teacher to help you from time to time if possible.
The book also covers basic reading and writing. While written Arabic is generally Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), an ability to read road and shop signs, Arabic numbers, restaurant menus and bills, and to write one's name and telephone number is a valuable skill for the Colloquial Arabic speaker. While the book is fully transliterated and can be used without learning to read Arabic, we recommend making the extra effort as this will assist you if you go on to study MSA.
Syrian Colloquial Arabic is designed to be a handy reference even after you have finished the course. It therefore contains much more vocabulary than you should try to memorise in one go. We recommend that you select only five or six vocabulary items in each exercise or list to memorise, and learn the others as you need them.