28 JULY 1917, Page 22

Egyptian Colloquial Arabic. By W. H. T. Gairdner. (Cambridge :

W. Heifer. 12s. Rd. net.)---Mr. Gairdner, of the Church Missionary Society, who is the Superintendent of Arabic Studies -at the Cairo Study Centre, has done a groat service to our many officers and civilians in Egypt by preparing this practical conversation grammar and reader of the spoken language of the people. Ho discards the Arabic symbols for a modified Roman alphabet, end thus removes a great initial difficulty from the student's path, and not without reason, for the colloquial Arabic of Egypt differs widely from the classical Arabic of the great authors.