The three major dialect groups of Saudi Arabia are Hijazi, Najdi and Shargi. Hijazi is used for government and commercial purposes and is the most widely understood. This basic course uses the Hijazi dialect of Jidda, which is designated "urban" to distinguish it from Bedouin varieties. The book will provide students with the basic grammatical structures necessary for a "working" proficiency that will enable them to satisfy routine social demands and limited business requirements. The book consists of 50 lessons, each (beginning with lesson 4) having the following parts: (1) dialogues--for memorization, (2) structure sentences--structures not in the dialogue, (3) grammatical notes--explaining new structures, (4) vocabulary notes--giving new words, (5) drills--including substitution, transformation, question-answer, and translation, (6) situations--English sentences which students should be able to say in Arabic, and (7) cultural notes-comments on speech attitudes, situational behavior, or social etiquette. Every tenth lesson is a review. The lessons are preceded by a guide to pronunciation that includes an explanation of the transcription system used. The Arabic script used throughout is intended for the instructor only. Following the lessons is a series of appendices dealing with specialized vocabulary, social expressions, gestures, and Saudi names, a glossary, and an index of grammatical structures. (TL)