The Elementary Modern Standard Arabic Course (EMSA) is the premier introduction, for the English-speaking student, to the active written language of the contemporary Arab world. Expressly designed for the beginning student, the course is written by a team of Arabic language teachers consisting of native and non-native Arabic speakers, linguists and people whose primary interests are literature and allied areas. It implements an audio-lingual approach to language teaching while presenting the elements of Modern Standard Arabic as written and spoken in the contemporary Arab World. Volume 1 is complete in itself and presents a practical introduction to the writing system of Arabic and to its pronunciation, with reading and writing pronunciation drills. Thirty lessons provide a basic working knowledge of Arabic. Each lesson contains a text, a vocabulary, grammar and drills including oral and written comprehension passages. An Arabic-English glossary completes the volume. The course continues in Volume 2, which extends the knowledge of vocabulary, grammar and expression.