The Next "It" Language: Arabic?

I've only had the most cursory exposure to Arabic. I remember trying to learn Arabic from text with no audio. I think I must have given up after a day. It was too hard. There are no tones like there are in Chinese, but the language employs pharyngeal sounds, meaning the tongue must make contact with the back of the throat. I'm not used to using my tongue in this manner. So I would say this is one drawback, but not one that's impossible to overcome. The grammar, I have read, is an absolute devil, unless you already know Hebrew, which is related. I'm not experienced enough in Arabic or Hebrew to say whether this is true, but given that it's quite foreign to English, I would venture an English speaker would at least struggle a little bit with it. The writing system is beautiful to look at, and I actually attempted to learn how to write it while trying to teach myself Farsi, which uses the same alphabet. I felt pretty comfortable in it after a couple of weeks.

How does Arabic compare with Spanish and Mandarin in its importance and usefulness? Well, obviously Arabic is a plus in the military or in government or international relations careers. I think probably fewer non-Arabs are learning Arabic than non-Chinese are learning Chinese or non-Spanish are learning Spanish, so there might be more of a need for this language. But while people who are learning foreign languages tend to travel to a country where that language is primarily spoken as a way to enhance their studies, countries where Arabic is a primary language might not be that attractive to westerners now, for obvious political reasons. This doesn't apply across the board, of course; Morocco and the United Arab Emirates (capital: Dubai for those who don't know) are genuine tourist destinations according to what I have read. Apart from the obvious war-torn areas of the Arabic world, I think the problem could be one of perception, at least somewhat.

But even if you can't see yourself going to an Arabic-speaking country, there are plenty of Arabic-speaking people in the west you could practice speaking with. I for one live in a metropolitan area that rivals Paris as having the largest population of Arabic speakers outside the Middle East. But which Arabic are you going to learn? There is Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), which is very formal. And then there is colloquial Arabic, which is obviously less formal, but which varies from region to region. So if you are going to learn Arabic, you might want to locate some people to practice with and find out which part of the Arabic world they are from so you can learn the right colloquial form (or be prepared to sound a little stuffy if you choose to learn MSA). Learning a colloquial Arabic language might help you immerse yourself in that particular culture a bit better, I imagine, which is always a great thing for language learning and humankind in general.