Which would you like to do in the long run - work for the LAS until you draw your pension (in which case, learn Urdu) - or put something new in your "portfolio" of skills that could open doors to other possibilities? It used to be that Yemeni Arabic was considered the "purest", and in your place I would learn to speak it before I tried reading or writing it. (Part of my childhood was spent in Arabic-speaking countries, and although I remember how to speak some Arabic I could not read or write it to save my life.) Arabic is cool. And when you go abroad on holiday, you'll be able to say in the lingo "I am English, not American, so please put that gun down" and haggle for Persian carpets in the merchant's mother tongue. Merchant will be so impressed. And you might be able to get a job as a Queen's Messenger (I would love to do this but I guess it's probably too late now). Rachel in SE7