LingoflyAn evening in front of the TV in Sinhala
At home in the evening: two argue about what to watch, look for the remote and switch the channel in Sinhala. 8 phrases that the conversation is made of: «රිමෝට් එක කෝ? (rimōṭ eka kō) මට (maṭa) ප්රවෘත්ති (pravṛtti) බලන්න (balanna) ඕනේ» (ōnē) — Where's the remote? I want to watch the news; «මෙන්න. හැබැයි (hæbæyi) දැන් (dæn) ටෙලි නාට්‍යය (ṭeli nāṭyaya) පටන් ගන්නවා» (paṭan gannavā) — Here. But a series is starting now. Every line can be played right on the page.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: at home in the evening: two argue about what to watch, look for the remote and switch the channel. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.
- menna. hæbæyi dæn ṭeli nāṭyaya paṭan gannavāHere. But a series is starting now.
Lines one by one
| Sinhala | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| රිමෝට් එක කෝ? (rimōṭ eka kō) මට (maṭa) ප්රවෘත්ති (pravṛtti) බලන්න (balanna) ඕනේ (ōnē) | rimōṭ eka kō? maṭa pravṛtti balanna ōnē | Where's the remote? I want to watch the news. |
| මෙන්න. හැබැයි (hæbæyi) දැන් (dæn) ටෙලි නාට්‍යය (ṭeli nāṭyaya) පටන් ගන්නවා (paṭan gannavā) | menna. hæbæyi dæn ṭeli nāṭyaya paṭan gannavā | Here. But a series is starting now. |
| ඒ වුණාට (ē vuṇāṭa) අද (ada) වැදගත් (vædagat) සිද්ධියක් වෙලා (velā) තියෙනවා (tiyenavā) | ē vuṇāṭa ada vædagat siddhiyak velā tiyenavā | All the more so because an important incident happened today. |
| මොකද (mokada) වුණේ (vuṇē)? මං ඒක (ēka) ගැන (gæna) ඇහුවේ නෑ | mokada vuṇē? maṁ ēka gæna æhuvē nǣ | What happened? I have not heard about it. |
| ලයිව් (layiv) එකේ (ekē) තියෙනවා (tiyenavā). චැනල් එක මාරු කරන්න (cænal eka māru karanna) | layiv ekē tiyenavā. cænal eka māru karanna | It is on live. Switch the channel. |
| ඉදිරිපත් කරන්නා (idiripat karannā) මොකද (mokada) කියන්නේ (kiyannē)? | idiripat karannā mokada kiyannē? | What is the anchor saying? |
| එයා (eyā) කිව්වා (kivvā) තවම (tavama) හරියට (hariyaṭa) දන්නේ (dannē) නෑ කියලා (kiyalā) | eyā kivvā tavama hariyaṭa dannē nǣ kiyalā | He said it is not yet exactly known. |
| එහෙනම් (ehenam) උපසිරැසි (upasiræsi) දාන්න (dānna). මට (maṭa) හොඳට (hondaṭa) ඇහෙන්නේ (æhennē) නෑ | ehenam upasiræsi dānna. maṭa hondaṭa æhennē nǣ | Then turn on the subtitles. I hear poorly. |
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?
“රිමෝට් එක කෝ? (rimōṭ eka kō) මට (maṭa) ප්රවෘත්ති (pravṛtti) බලන්න (balanna) ඕනේ” (ōnē) (rimōṭ eka kō? maṭa pravṛtti balanna ōnē) — Where's the remote? I want to watch the news. 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.