Learning arabic! Egyptian dialect or Classical?

Hello,
     Actually we have three sorts of Arabic. The first is classical Arabic, the second the local dialect; which varies from region to region, and third what is termed "Modern standard Arabic". This last one is used in the media and is essentially English expressions translated literally into Arabic. This means that while the letters and words {for the most part} are Arabic the word usage, phrases, and style is all English. This last one has a history and it is said that the first newspapers in the Arab world were just translated literally into Arabic and this is its root. As a language lover you want to learn classical Arabic. This is for many reasons. One reason is because the various Arabic dialects are distortions of it... so if you learn it, it can open the door for you to learn any Arabic dialect which you wish after that. In fact, it will also open the door to learning some Asian, African, and European languages which are not considered Arabic! The main Asian language I have in mind is the language of India and Pakistan (Which is identical; they only use a different script to write it. And is perhaps the second most spoken language in the world.) The African language I have in mind is Swahili which is spoken in Kenya, Tanzania, and parts of Uganda. The European language I have in mind is Malti, the language of Malta. All of the aforementioned languages have heavy Arabic influence. There are other languages that I have not mentioned which have heavy of varying levels of Arabic influence as well. In any case, from my observation, the local dialects are closer to Classical Arabic then they are to the "Modern Standard Arabic". Outside of media, I believe the "Modern Standard Arabic has no use". When you aim to learn the Egyptian dialect first many words you learn may not be new to you. This is because it is laden with words borrowed from other languages which it has picked up over the years. English, French, Italian and Turkish words are scattered throughout the language. And many of the words I refer to are not terminologies, but words for simple day to day things.
Besides what I have previously mentioned, the classical Arabic language, as a language, is amazing. If you have any experience with world languages you may know that some languages in the world are very simple which does not allow one to perhaps express certain ideas easily or does not allow the person to express the idea at hand in detail easily. So when it comes to languages, classical Arabic is comparable to your most state of the art device. We were taught Latin in middle school, and although Latin is a dead language, it helps you to understand all of the romance languages and even roots of words in English {The word "word" comes from Latin}. Arabic on the other hand has been an International language in the past, forms of which being used in Spain, Portrugal, and some parts of France and Italy... in addition to other places... and Arabic has influenced many world languages and has remained an International language perhaps being the fifth most spoken language in the world, in addition to the fact that a number of Muslims around the world in countries where Arabic is not the official language , learn and teach the language to understand the sacred scripture of the Quran better {The last and final revelation from God to mankind.}
For the aforementioned reasons concentrating on Classical Arabic, I believe, would interest you the most. Classical Arabic is likely to be the simplest language in the world to learn at the same time due to it being very systematic; as most words have roots and follow strict patterns of conjugation to reach a desired meaning. After this you can get used to any local dialect which you need to use or branch off into one of the other languages Arabic has influenced.

Al-Ustadh

Wow! Very detailed and useful answer!

Thanks i lot my friend.

Yes, i also believe classical arabic is the way to go. It's very different from the dialects, but at the same time, the dialects are very differente from each other. So, i thought that learning classical arabic would help me understand where do the dialects come from, and it really does.

I said sometimes i feel like i'm wasting my time learning it, but not because it's useless. It's very, very helpful. I said it mostly because i'm afraid of travelling to an arab country and not be able to understand someone, or being understood.

I want to live in Egypt, but let's say i want to travel and visit Lebanon or Tunisia, for instance. Lebanese an Tunisian dialects are very different. So my only choice i guess would be to speak classical arabic, right?. So, would they understand me? That's my one and only worry.

Thanks again for your answer, i really appreciate it! And be sure that i will keep your advice in mind!