LingoflyA good deed for the neighbourhood in Sinhala
Two neighbors in the yard: they collect money for a playground and divide the work in Sinhala. 8 phrases that the conversation is made of: «අපි (api) සෙල්ලම් පිටිය (sellam piṭiya) හදන්න (hadanna) සල්ලි එකතු කරනවා (salli ekatu karanavā). ඔයාත් එකතු (ekatu) වෙනවද?» — We are collecting money for a playground. Will you join too?; «මොකද්ද (mokadda) කරන්න (karanna) ඕන (ōna)? මම (mama) ස්වේච්ඡා (svēcchā) සේවකයෙක් විදිහට (vidihaṭa) එන්නම් (ennam).» — What is to be done? I will come as a volunteer.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: two neighbors in the yard: they collect money for a playground and divide the work. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.
- api sellam piṭiya hadanna salli ekatu karanavā. oyāt ekatu venavada?We are collecting money for a playground. Will you join too?
- මොකද්ද කරන්න ඕන? මම ස්වේච්ඡා සේවකයෙක් විදිහට එන්නම්.mokadda karanna ōna? mama svēcchā sēvakayek vidihaṭa ennam.What is to be done? I will come as a volunteer.
- නෑ, බල කරන්නේ නෑ. වැඩත් මාරුවෙන් මාරුවට කරමු.nǣ, bala karannē nǣ. væḍat māruven māruvaṭa karamu.No, we will not pressure anyone. And let us do the work in turns.
Lines one by one
| Sinhala | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| අපි (api) සෙල්ලම් පිටිය (sellam piṭiya) හදන්න (hadanna) සල්ලි එකතු කරනවා (salli ekatu karanavā). ඔයාත් එකතු (ekatu) වෙනවද? | api sellam piṭiya hadanna salli ekatu karanavā. oyāt ekatu venavada? | We are collecting money for a playground. Will you join too? |
| මොකද්ද (mokadda) කරන්න (karanna) ඕන (ōna)? මම (mama) ස්වේච්ඡා (svēcchā) සේවකයෙක් විදිහට (vidihaṭa) එන්නම් (ennam). | mokadda karanna ōna? mama svēcchā sēvakayek vidihaṭa ennam. | What is to be done? I will come as a volunteer. |
| හැම (hæma) ගෙදරකින්ම රුපියල් (rupiyal) දාහක් (dāhak) විතර (vitara). ඕන (ōna) කෙනෙක්ට වැඩිපුරත් පරිත්‍යාග (parityāga) කරන්න (karanna) පුළුවන් (puḷuvan). | hæma gedarakinma rupiyal dāhak vitara. ōna kenekṭa væḍipurat parityāga karanna puḷuvan. | About a thousand rupees from each house. Whoever wants may give more. |
| මෙතන (metana) දුප්පත් (duppat) ගෙවල් (geval) තියෙනවා (tiyenavā) නේද (nēda)? ඒ අයට (ayaṭa) බල කරන්න (karanna) එපා (epā). | metana duppat geval tiyenavā nēda? ē ayaṭa bala karanna epā. | There are poor households here, no? They must not be pressured. |
| නෑ, බල කරන්නේ (karannē) නෑ. වැඩත් මාරුවෙන් මාරුවට (māruven māruvaṭa) කරමු (karamu). | nǣ, bala karannē nǣ. væḍat māruven māruvaṭa karamu. | No, we will not pressure anyone. And let us do the work in turns. |
| හොඳ (honda) අදහසක් (adahasak). ළමයි (ḷamayi) හදාගන්න (hadāganna) පවුල්වලට ඒක (ēka) ලොකු (loku) දෙයක් (deyak). | honda adahasak. ḷamayi hadāganna pavulvalaṭa ēka loku deyak. | A good thought. For families raising children it is a big matter. |
| බහුතරය (bahutaraya) දැනටමත් (dænaṭamat) කැමතියි (kæmatiyi). සුළුතරයක් විතරයි (vitarayi) තාම (tāma) කතා (katā) කරලා (karalā) නැත්තේ (nættē). | bahutaraya dænaṭamat kæmatiyi. suḷutarayak vitarayi tāma katā karalā nættē. | The majority already agrees. Only the minority has not been spoken with yet. |
| මම (mama) ලෝකල් (lōkal) කඩේ (kaḍē) මුදලාලිගෙනුත් අහන්නම්. | mama lōkal kaḍē mudalāligenut ahannam. | I will also ask the owner of the local shop. |
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?
“අපි (api) සෙල්ලම් පිටිය (sellam piṭiya) හදන්න (hadanna) සල්ලි එකතු කරනවා (salli ekatu karanavā). ඔයාත් එකතු (ekatu) වෙනවද?” (api sellam piṭiya hadanna salli ekatu karanavā. oyāt ekatu venavada?) — We are collecting money for a playground. Will you join too? 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.