Learning a dialect will not be very helpful if you want to read books or understand most Arabic media, which are usually in MSA. While local dialects can be easier to pick up through listening and speaking to the locals, if you're the kind of person who prefers more structured learning then you might prefer MSA.

Is MSA worth learning?

MSA is particularly helpful, then, for academics, journalists and researchers who want to explore written documents and the literature of the Arab peninsula. Unlike local varieties, MSA is always grammatically consistent, so it makes it easier to acquire rules and master them in a relatively short time.

Is MSA a dialect?

Literary Arabic (MSA) is the official language of all Arab League countries and is the only form of Arabic taught in schools at all stages. ... As there is a prestige or standard dialect of vernacular Arabic, speakers of standard colloquial dialects code-switch between these particular dialects and MSA.