How does one speak Egyptian Arabic well?

Maltese, though descended from Arabic, is considered to be a separate language and is in fact written with Latin letters. Probably the most divergent of non-creole Arabic varieties is Cypriot Maronite Arabic, a nearly extinct variety heavily influenced by Greek. Speakers of some of these varieties are unable to converse with speakers of another variety of Arabic; in particular, while Middle Easterners (including Egyptians) can generally understand one another, they often have difficulties understanding North Africans (excluding Egyptians) (although the converse is not true, due to the popularity of Egyptian films and other media.)