I agree, learn the language first before getting into dialects. Most everyone will be able to understand you then, and you will come across as proper and polite...important in prevent faux pas until you really have a frim grasp and understanding of the language. Once you know MSA, you can pick up colloquial language as well as dialects.

Hope that helps,
Salihah

you won't have trouble when speaking to people, usually, unless they're very rural and/or very uneducated. MSA is the language of TV broadcasts, etc. Most people are exposed to and understand it.

Where you could run into trouble is in understanding people-- not everyone will respond to you in MSA, though they will likely try their best to help you out.

MSA then a dialect is definitely the way to go, if you want a proper understanding of the language that's widely usable asap. Otherwise, most people understand the egyptian dialect, because egypt produces most movies and television shows. It is a peculiar dialect though (well, they all are..) and again you may not understand everyone trying to respond to you. MSA is a LOT more formal (think BBC english) but you'd want to have that grammar eventually, and it's much easier to do MSA first then a dialect, rather than the other way around.

Both egypt and tunisia have programs that allow you to study MSA and dialect. Tunisian arabic is closer to MSA.

" ma' sallamah "

I just wanted to point out that the word of greetings you opened your post with (above) is usually used to say "goodbye" rather than "hello," or such, as you intended. Literally, it means "with safety," but it is commonly used as "go in peace," or "be safe," rather than an opening salutation. What you want to say is "as-salamu 'aleikum," which means "peace be upon (or "with") you." "You" being the plural pronoun.

Congratulations, when are you going and for how long?

Study MSA in the classroom, then when you talk with people informally you can also ask how it would be said in dialect.