LingoflyTwo sides of the story in Sinhala
An argument about a news item from social media: one believes, the other doubts and asks to check in Sinhala. 8 phrases that the conversation is made of: «සමාජ මාධ්ය (samāja mādhya) වල (vala) ලොකු (loku) කලබලයක් (kalabalayak) තියෙනවා» (tiyenavā) — There is a big scandal on social media; «මොකද (mokada) වුණේ (vuṇē)? මූලාශ්‍රය (mūlāśraya) මොකක්ද (mokakda)?» — What happened? What is the source? Every line can be played right on the page.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: an argument about a news item from social media: one believes, the other doubts and asks to check. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.
- samāja mādhya vala loku kalabalayak tiyenavāThere is a big scandal on social media.
- ættaṭama eyālā ṭikak væḍi karalā kiyanavā venna puḷuvanActually, they may be exaggerating a little.
- mama ṭikak duraṭa ekangayi. hæbæyi ēka tavama kaṭakatāvakI partly agree. However, it is a rumor so far.
- ඔයා මොකද හිතන්නේ? මාධ්ය ඒකට බලපානවද?oyā mokada hitannē? mādhya ēkaṭa balapānavada?And what do you think? Do the media influence this?
Lines one by one
| Sinhala | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| සමාජ මාධ්ය (samāja mādhya) වල (vala) ලොකු (loku) කලබලයක් (kalabalayak) තියෙනවා (tiyenavā) | samāja mādhya vala loku kalabalayak tiyenavā | There is a big scandal on social media. |
| මොකද (mokada) වුණේ (vuṇē)? මූලාශ්‍රය (mūlāśraya) මොකක්ද (mokakda)? | mokada vuṇē? mūlāśraya mokakda? | What happened? What is the source? |
| පෝස්ට් (pōsṭ) එකක. එයාලා (eyālā) කිව්වා (kivvā) ඒක (ēka) ඇත්ත (ætta) කියලා (kiyalā) | pōsṭ ekaka. eyālā kivvā ēka ætta kiyalā | In one post. They said it was true. |
| මට නම් (maṭa nam) සැකයි. තොරතුරු (toraturu) හරිද (harida) කියලා (kiyalā) බලන්න (balanna) ඕනේ (ōnē) | maṭa nam sækayi. toraturu harida kiyalā balanna ōnē | In my view it is doubtful. The information must be checked. |
| ඇත්තටම (ættaṭama) එයාලා (eyālā) ටිකක් (ṭikak) වැඩි කරලා කියනවා (væḍi karalā kiyanavā) වෙන්න පුළුවන් (venna puḷuvan) | ættaṭama eyālā ṭikak væḍi karalā kiyanavā venna puḷuvan | Actually, they may be exaggerating a little. |
| මම ටිකක් දුරට එකඟයි (mama ṭikak duraṭa ekangayi). හැබැයි (hæbæyi) ඒක (ēka) තවම (tavama) කටකතාවක් (kaṭakatāvak) | mama ṭikak duraṭa ekangayi. hæbæyi ēka tavama kaṭakatāvak | I partly agree. However, it is a rumor so far. |
| ඔයා මොකද හිතන්නේ? (oyā mokada hitannē) මාධ්ය (mādhya) ඒකට (ēkaṭa) බලපානවද? | oyā mokada hitannē? mādhya ēkaṭa balapānavada? | And what do you think? Do the media influence this? |
| බලපානවා (balapānavā). ඒක නිසා (ēka nisā) මම (mama) ප්‍රවෘත්ති (pravṛtti) දෙකක් (dekak) බලලා (balalā) තමයි (tamayi) විශ්වාස (viśvāsa) කරන්නේ (karannē) | balapānavā. ēka nisā mama pravṛtti dekak balalā tamayi viśvāsa karannē | They do. So I believe only after watching two news reports. |
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?
“සමාජ මාධ්ය (samāja mādhya) වල (vala) ලොකු (loku) කලබලයක් (kalabalayak) තියෙනවා” (tiyenavā) (samāja mādhya vala loku kalabalayak tiyenavā) — There is a big scandal on social media. 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.