LingoflySorting the rubbish in Sinhala
Two neighbors by the trash bins: one explains to the other how garbage is sorted now in Sinhala. 8 phrases that the conversation is made of: «මේ බාල්දි දෙක (deka) මොකටද (mokaṭada)? කලින් (kalin) එකයි (ekayi) තිබුණේ (tibuṇē).» — Why these two bins? There used to be one; «දැන් (dæn) කුණු වෙන් වෙන් කරලා දාන්න (kuṇu ven ven karalā dānna) ඕන (ōna).» — Now the garbage must be sorted. Every line can be played right on the page.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: two neighbors by the trash bins: one explains to the other how garbage is sorted now. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.
- ආපහු පාවිච්චි කරන ද්‍රව්‍ය කොයි එකටද දාන්නේ?āpahu pāvicci karana dravya koyi ekaṭada dānnē?Which one does recyclable go into?
- එක් වරක් පාවිච්චි කරන බෑග් මොකද කරන්නේ?ek varak pāvicci karana bǣg mokada karannē?And what to do with disposable bags?
- hæmōgema tamangē dāyakatvaya ōna. poḍi poḍḍen venas vēvi.A personal contribution of each is needed. It will change little by little.
Lines one by one
| Sinhala | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| මේ බාල්දි දෙක (deka) මොකටද (mokaṭada)? කලින් (kalin) එකයි (ekayi) තිබුණේ (tibuṇē). | mē bāldi deka mokaṭada? kalin ekayi tibuṇē. | Why these two bins? There used to be one. |
| දැන් (dæn) කුණු වෙන් වෙන් කරලා දාන්න (kuṇu ven ven karalā dānna) ඕන (ōna). | dæn kuṇu ven ven karalā dānna ōna. | Now the garbage must be sorted. |
| ආපහු පාවිච්චි කරන ද්‍රව්‍ය (āpahu pāvicci karana dravya) කොයි (koyi) එකටද දාන්නේ? | āpahu pāvicci karana dravya koyi ekaṭada dānnē? | Which one does recyclable go into? |
| කොළ පාට (koḷa pāṭa) එකට (ekaṭa). දිරාපත් (dirāpat) වෙන (vena) දේවල් (dēval) අනිත් (anit) එකට (ekaṭa). | koḷa pāṭa ekaṭa. dirāpat vena dēval anit ekaṭa. | The green one. What decomposes goes into the other. |
| එක් වරක් පාවිච්චි කරන (ek varak pāvicci karana) බෑග් (bǣg) මොකද (mokada) කරන්නේ (karannē)? | ek varak pāvicci karana bǣg mokada karannē? | And what to do with disposable bags? |
| ඒවා දැන් (dæn) තහනම් (tahanam). ගමෙන් (gamen) පිටත (piṭata) කසළ ගොඩ (kasaḷa goḍa) ලොකු (loku) වෙලා (velā). | ēvā dæn tahanam. gamen piṭata kasaḷa goḍa loku velā. | They are banned now. The dump beyond the village has grown. |
| ඇත්ත (ætta). ගඟත් විස (visa) කරලා (karalā) තියෙන්නේ (tiyennē) අපිම නේද (nēda)? | ætta. gangat visa karalā tiyennē apima nēda? | True. And it was we ourselves who poisoned the river, no? |
| හැමෝගෙම තමන්ගේ දායකත්වය ඕන (hæmōgema tamangē dāyakatvaya ōna). පොඩි පොඩ්ඩෙන් (poḍi poḍḍen) වෙනස් (venas) වේවි. | hæmōgema tamangē dāyakatvaya ōna. poḍi poḍḍen venas vēvi. | A personal contribution of each is needed. It will change little by little. |
How to prepare for a conversation like this
Memorizing the lines is not enough: the other person will say their own thing, not what is written. What helps more is catching the key words by ear and keeping three rescue phrases ready: “I don't understand”, “repeat, please”, “slower”.
And one more thing phrasebooks do not mention: awkwardness gets in the way more than not knowing the words.
- Fear of making mistakes gets in the way of learning a language, and noticeably so. The link turns up study after study, and together those studies cover almost twenty thousand people.checked many timesTeimouri, Goetze & Plonsky, 2019, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41(2) · 19,933 participants from 23 countries; correlation with results r = −0.36.
- That fear can be dealt with — the methods have been tested and they work.checked many timesXiong et al., 2024, Journal of Language and Social Psychology · 37 studies, anxiety reduced by −0.61. Of the seven conditions examined, only age turned out to matter.
Frequently asked
How do you start a conversation in Sinhala in this situation?
“මේ බාල්දි දෙක (deka) මොකටද (mokaṭada)? කලින් (kalin) එකයි (ekayi) තිබුණේ (tibuṇē).” (mē bāldi deka mokaṭada? kalin ekayi tibuṇē.) — Why these two bins? There used to be one. The first line in such a conversation is almost always the same, and that is the one worth learning: the other person will carry it from there.
What if you did not understand the reply?
Say “I don't understand” and “repeat, please” — both are in the rescue set. Admitting your language is still shaky almost always makes the other person more patient.
Should you memorize the dialogue?
No. It is more useful to catch the key words by ear: the other person will say their own thing, and a memorized line will not always fit their reply.