ඉමිග්රේෂන් නිලධාරියා
“ඉමිග්රේෂන් නිලධාරියා” (imigrēṣan niladhāriyā) — the border guard in Sinhala. Noun, level A2. An island has no land border at all, so the 'border guard' here is only the officer in the airport booth. Frontier posts and troops don't exist in everyday speech. In a live sentence: “ඉමිග්රේෂන් නිලධාරියා පාස්පෝට් එක ඉල්ලුවා” — The border guard asked for the passport. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ඉ, ම, ි, ග, ්, ර, ේ, ෂ, න, ්, න, ි.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | ඉමිග්රේෂන් නිලධාරියා |
| Read in Latin letters | imigrēṣan niladhāriyā |
| Translation | the border guard |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A2 |
- ඉමිග්රේෂන් නිලධාරියාimigrēṣan niladhāriyāthe border guard
Why it looks that way
An island has no land border at all, so the 'border guard' here is only the officer in the airport booth. Frontier posts and troops don't exist in everyday speech
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- ඉමිග්රේෂන් නිලධාරියා පාස්පෝට් එක ඉල්ලුවාimigrēṣan niladhāriyā pāspōṭ eka illuvāThe border guard asked for the passport
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “the border guard” in Sinhala?
«ඉමිග්රේෂන් නිලධාරියා», read “imigrēṣan niladhāriyā”. In a live sentence: “ඉමිග්රේෂන් නිලධාරියා පාස්පෝට් එක ඉල්ලුවා” — The border guard asked for the passport. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A2; written with the characters ඉ, ම, ි, ග, ්, ර, ේ, ෂ, න, ්, න, ි.
How is “ඉමිග්රේෂන් නිලධාරියා” written in Latin letters?
imigrēṣan niladhāriyā. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
An island has no land border at all, so the 'border guard' here is only the officer in the airport booth. Frontier posts and troops don't exist in everyday speech. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how it sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.