5 MAY 1917, Page 17

We have pleasure in calling attention to a practical little

Vocabu- lary of the Mesopotamian Dialect of Arabic, which has been com- piled by Lieutenant J. T. Cole for the use of officers and men in tho Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force. Mr. Cole boldly and wisely leaves the Arabic character alone and transliterates the words into ordinary Roman letters, because our troops want to talk to the Arabs and not to write to them. With the help of this English. Arabic vocabulary and the brief grammatical notes, our soldiers may become quite fluent in the very unelassical Arabic of the Tigris Valley. Mr. Cole's pamphlet is printed and published at the Civil and Military Gazette Press, Lahore, where copies can doubtless be obtained. It is the latest of many instances that we have seen of the intelligent work being done voluntarily by the young scholars who have gone into the Army and are serving their country well in .many fields.