Anything like Assimil/Linguaphone for Levantine Arabic?

[thevagrant88]

I live in the US (near Philadelphia) and it's my understanding that the majority of the Arabic speaking diaspora in the country are from the Levant region. While there is an *ok* amount of resources, I am a fan of the Assimil method and personally feel it is the most effective way to learn a language, in my experience of course. I see that MSA has two levels of Assmil and a Linguaphone course. Egyptian Arabic has Linguaphone as well. Is there anything really comparable for Levantine/Shami Arabic?

At first, I thought to do MSA and then regress--so to speak--into Levantine. However, I'm in the process of becoming an ESL teacher and while learning MSA is still important to become literate and develop a more complete cultural understanding, I understand I don't need to focus really on speaking or producing the language in any way. I feel like becoming communicative in a dialect, then and being able to learn to understand spoken MSA and read is what would be best for me personally.

Anyway, if there is anything out there that fits please let me know. I've heard that Egyptian is very similar to Levantine, but is it similar enough? Any and all advice is welcome.

[Speakeasy]

The linked discussion thread might be of some use ...

Levantine Arabic Resources (Syrian, Jordanian, Palestinian and Lebanese dialects) - LLORG - November 2016
https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=4944

[Deinonysus]

Unlike Assimil and Linguaphone, Pimsleur is audio only. They have a 90-lesson course for Levantine Arabic and a 30-lesson course for Egyptian Arabic.

The usual disclaimers: Pimsleur is very expensive, but a lot of libraries carry it. It's very slow and mostly deals with business or travel language. It drills you a lot on a small core of vocabulary and avoids any formal grammar explanations. Despite these caveats, some people swear by it, myself included.

[thevagrant88]

Unlike Assimil and Linguaphone, Pimsleur is audio only. They have a 90-lesson course for Levantine Arabic and a 30-lesson course for Egyptian Arabic.

The usual disclaimers: Pimsleur is very expensive, but a lot of libraries carry it. It's very slow and mostly deals with business or travel language. It drills you a lot on a small core of vocabulary and avoids any formal grammar explanations. Despite these caveats, some people swear by it, myself included.

Yes I've used Pimsleur in the past. A bit slow and isn't as extensive as I'd like, but then again it sure is better than nothing.

[senorsmile]

Mango languages works in a similar manner to Pimsleur, although in a more interactive (and in my opinion better) way.

Although they have 70+ languages available, only a few are truly comprehensive. Their Levantine Arabic course is one of these. I count 620 lessons, which they claim will bring you to a B1.