ටෙලිෆෝන් කතාවක්
A short in Sinhala text at level B1. The translation sits next to it: reading with a dictionary is still too early at this level, and without support it will not happen at all. Yesterday I was called from the office. Because of the noise I heard poorly and therefore asked again. He dictated the…
Text
- ඊයේ ඔෆිස් එකෙන් මට කෝල් එකක් ආවා. සද්දේ නිසා මට හරියට ඇහුණේ නෑ, ඒ නිසා මම ආයෙත් ඇහුවා. එයා නම අකුරෙන් අකුර කිව්වා, මම ඒක ලියාගත්තා. මම ඇහුවා ලියවිලි ගේන්න ඕනේද කියලා, එයා කිව්වා ඕනේ කියලා. මම කිව්වා: හෙට උදේ එන්න කියලා මට හරියට තේරුණාද? එයා කිව්වා හරියටම ඒක තමයි කියලා. මට එච්චර වෙලාවක් තිබුණේ නෑ, ඒ නිසා මම කිව්වා මට යන්න වෙනවා කියලා. අන්තිමට අපි කිව්වා පස්සේ කතා කරමු කියලා.īyē ofis eken maṭa kōl ekak āvā. saddē nisā maṭa hariyaṭa æhuṇē nǣ, ē nisā mama āyet æhuvā. eyā nama akuren akura kivvā, mama ēka liyāgattā. mama æhuvā liyavili gēnna ōnēda kiyalā, eyā kivvā ōnē kiyalā. mama kivvā: heṭa udē enna kiyalā maṭa hariyaṭa tēruṇāda? eyā kivvā hariyaṭama ēka tamayi kiyalā. maṭa eccara velāvak tibuṇē nǣ, ē nisā mama kivvā maṭa yanna venavā kiyalā. antimaṭa api kivvā passē katā karamu kiyalā.Yesterday I was called from the office. Because of the noise I heard poorly and therefore asked again. He dictated the name letter by letter, and I wrote it down. I asked whether documents had to be brought; he answered that they did. I said: have I understood correctly that I must come tomorrow morning? He answered that exactly so. I had little time, so I said that it was time for me. At the end we said to each other: till we speak again.
Comprehension questions
The questions are asked in Russian on purpose: we test your understanding of the text, not your ability to read the question.
- Why did the author ask again?
- How did the author write down the name?
- What did the author clarify at the end of the talk?
- How did the conversation end?
Frequently asked
What level do you need to read this text in Sinhala?
B1. That means: you know the letters and have a stock of everyday words — about two or three hundred.
How to read a text in an unfamiliar language usefully?
First all the way through without peeking at the translation — just to catch the familiar words. Then with the translation. Then all the way through again: the second pass brings noticeably more, and that feeling matters more than any rule.