As the national language of nearly 20 countries in Africa and Asia, and spoken by approximately 190 million people, Arabic is the lingua franca of the Middle East. This title uses a standard Arabic helpful to those travelling all over the region. The emphasis is on commonly heard terms and phrases that are recognisable throughout the Arabic speaking world. Both the dictionary and phrasebook incorporate the Arabic script and its romanised transliteration. The two-way dictionary contains important travel, geographical, and cultural terminology, while the phrasebook focuses on the needs of travellers and covers almost every situation from arrival to departure.