The Iraqi Arabic Dialect Orientation Course was originally designed to meet the immediate needs for Arabic speakers created during the first Gulf War in 1991.

The intended audience for this course included both non-Modern Standard Arabic linguists and Modern Standard Arabic speakers who were unfamiliar with the Iraqi dialect.

The course was designed to be concise with only eleven lessons: The first lesson focuses on pronunciation and an introduction of Iraqi Arabic sounds; lessons two through eleven are designed around selected topic areas which highlight common situations one might expect to encounter.

Military specific vocabulary is included, but the majority of vocabulary is dual use.

Typical situations include greetings, use of courtesy phrases, expressions of time and weather, and associated topics. These lessons illustrate these topics using relevant dialogues, with an emphasis on the key vocabulary related to that topic.

On average a student can master each lesson approximately two to three hours.

The course is also designed to makes it possible for instructors to present the course. The course is not designed to present an exhaustive or complete Arabic grammar or vocabulary list.

While it is not the intent to present an exhaustive or complete Arabic grammar or vocabulary list, the course does serve as a brief introduction for students to begin to read Arabic.

The Iraqi Dialect Orientation course is now available in three formats: Printed text book and audio CDs; CD-ROM course including Audio MP3s and a PDF version of the book; and lastly the download version which contains the former.

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