LingoflyThe interview in Sinhala
A job interview: the employer asks about experience and conditions in Sinhala. 8 phrases that the conversation is made of: «ඇතුළට (ætuḷaṭa) එන්න (enna). මුලින්ම ඔයා ගැන කියන්න» (mulinma oyā gæna kiyanna) — Come in. First, tell me about yourself; «මම (mama) කොළඹ (koḷamba) ඉන්නේ (innē), උපාධිය (upādhiya) ගත්තේ (gattē) ගණිතයෙන්» — I live in Colombo and received a degree in mathematics. Every line can be played right on the page.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: a job interview: the employer asks about experience and conditions. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.
- ætuḷaṭa enna. mulinma oyā gæna kiyannaCome in. First, tell me about yourself.
- probēṣan kālen passē katā karamu kiyalā hitanavāI think we will discuss that after the probation period.
Lines one by one
| Sinhala | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| ඇතුළට (ætuḷaṭa) එන්න (enna). මුලින්ම ඔයා ගැන කියන්න (mulinma oyā gæna kiyanna) | ætuḷaṭa enna. mulinma oyā gæna kiyanna | Come in. First, tell me about yourself. |
| මම (mama) කොළඹ (koḷamba) ඉන්නේ (innē), උපාධිය (upādhiya) ගත්තේ (gattē) ගණිතයෙන් | mama koḷamba innē, upādhiya gattē gaṇitayen | I live in Colombo and received a degree in mathematics. |
| රැකියා පළපුරුද්ද (rækiyā paḷapurudda) කීයද? (kīyada) | rækiyā paḷapurudda kīyada? | How much work experience do you have? |
| අවුරුදු (avurudu) තුනක් (tunak). ඊට (īṭa) කලින් (kalin) ඉන්ටර්න්ෂිප් (inṭarnṣip) එකක් (ekak) කළා (kaḷā) | avurudu tunak. īṭa kalin inṭarnṣip ekak kaḷā | Three years. Before that I did an internship. |
| අපේ (apē) තනතුරට රාජකාරි (rājakāri) ගොඩක් (goḍak) තියෙනවා (tiyenavā). පුළුවන්ද (puḷuvanda)? | apē tanaturaṭa rājakāri goḍak tiyenavā. puḷuvanda? | Our position has many duties. Can you manage? |
| පුළුවන් (puḷuvan). මම (mama) කලින් (kalin) රස්සාවේ ප්‍රොජෙක්ට් (projekṭ) තුනක් (tunak) කළා (kaḷā) | puḷuvan. mama kalin rassāvē projekṭ tunak kaḷā | I can manage. At my last job I ran three projects. |
| පඩිය (paḍiya) ගැන (gæna) ඔයාගේ (oyāgē) අදහස (adahasa) මොකක්ද (mokakda)? | paḍiya gæna oyāgē adahasa mokakda? | What are your salary expectations? |
| ප්‍රොබේෂන් (probēṣan) කාලෙන් පස්සේ කතා කරමු (passē katā karamu) කියලා (kiyalā) හිතනවා (hitanavā) | probēṣan kālen passē katā karamu kiyalā hitanavā | I think we will discuss that after the probation period. |
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?
“ඇතුළට (ætuḷaṭa) එන්න (enna). මුලින්ම ඔයා ගැන කියන්න” (mulinma oyā gæna kiyanna) (ætuḷaṭa enna. mulinma oyā gæna kiyanna) — Come in. First, tell me about yourself. 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.