LingoflyAbout the new colleague in Sinhala
Two colleagues discuss the new worker — who he is and how to get along with him in Sinhala. 8 phrases that the conversation is made of: «අලුත් කෙනා (alut kenā) ගැන (gæna) ඔයාට (oyāṭa) මොකද (mokada) හිතෙන්නේ?» — What do you think of the newcomer?; «පහසුවෙන් එකඟ වෙන (pahasuven ekanga vena) කෙනෙක් (kenek). ඒත් (ēt) ටිකක් (ṭikak) තනියම (taniyama) ඉන්න (inna) කැමතියි (kæmatiyi).» — An accommodating person. But a little withdrawn. Every line can be played right on the page.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: two colleagues discuss the new worker — who he is and how to get along with him. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.
- alut kenā gæna oyāṭa mokada hitennē?What do you think of the newcomer?
- pahasuven ekanga vena kenek. ēt ṭikak taniyama inna kæmatiyi.An accommodating person. But a little withdrawn.
- මට තේරුණු විදිහට එයා සියලු විස්තර බලන කෙනෙක්.maṭa tēruṇu vidihaṭa eyā siyalu vistara balana kenek.As I understand, he is a thorough person.
- eyā ikmanaṭa hita ridena kenek nēda kiyalā maṭa sækayi.I suspect that he is touchy.
- එහෙනම් බැණ වදින්න එපා. හොඳ හිතින් කියන්න ඕන.ehenam bæṇa vadinna epā. honda hitin kiyanna ōna.Then do not reproach him. One must speak from the best motives.
Lines one by one
| Sinhala | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| අලුත් කෙනා (alut kenā) ගැන (gæna) ඔයාට (oyāṭa) මොකද (mokada) හිතෙන්නේ? | alut kenā gæna oyāṭa mokada hitennē? | What do you think of the newcomer? |
| පහසුවෙන් එකඟ වෙන (pahasuven ekanga vena) කෙනෙක් (kenek). ඒත් (ēt) ටිකක් (ṭikak) තනියම (taniyama) ඉන්න (inna) කැමතියි (kæmatiyi). | pahasuven ekanga vena kenek. ēt ṭikak taniyama inna kæmatiyi. | An accommodating person. But a little withdrawn. |
| මට තේරුණු විදිහට (maṭa tēruṇu vidihaṭa) එයා (eyā) සියලු විස්තර බලන (siyalu vistara balana) කෙනෙක් (kenek). | maṭa tēruṇu vidihaṭa eyā siyalu vistara balana kenek. | As I understand, he is a thorough person. |
| ඔව් (ov). ඒත් (ēt) කේලාම් (kēlām) කියන්නේ (kiyannē) නෑ, ඒක (ēka) හොඳයි (hondayi). | ov. ēt kēlām kiyannē nǣ, ēka hondayi. | Yes. But he does not gossip, and that is good. |
| ඊයේ (īyē) මම (mama) එයාට (eyāṭa) හොඳයි (hondayi) කියලා (kiyalā) කිව්වා (kivvā). එයා (eyā) ලැජ්ජා වුණා (vuṇā). | īyē mama eyāṭa hondayi kiyalā kivvā. eyā læjjā vuṇā. | Yesterday I praised him. He grew embarrassed. |
| එයා ඉක්මනට හිත රිදෙන කෙනෙක් (eyā ikmanaṭa hita ridena kenek) නේද (nēda) කියලා (kiyalā) මට (maṭa) සැකයි. | eyā ikmanaṭa hita ridena kenek nēda kiyalā maṭa sækayi. | I suspect that he is touchy. |
| එහෙනම් (ehenam) බැණ (bæṇa) වදින්න (vadinna) එපා (epā). හොඳ හිතින් (honda hitin) කියන්න (kiyanna) ඕන (ōna). | ehenam bæṇa vadinna epā. honda hitin kiyanna ōna. | Then do not reproach him. One must speak from the best motives. |
| හරි (hari). සමඟියෙන් (samangiyen) ඉන්න (inna) එක (eka) තමයි (tamayi) හොඳම (hondama). | hari. samangiyen inna eka tamayi hondama. | Good. It is best to get along. |
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?
“අලුත් කෙනා (alut kenā) ගැන (gæna) ඔයාට (oyāṭa) මොකද (mokada) හිතෙන්නේ?” (alut kenā gæna oyāṭa mokada hitennē?) — What do you think of the newcomer? 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.