ස්වභාවික ව්යසනය
“ස්වභාවික ව්යසනය” (svabhāvika vyasanaya) — natural disaster in Sinhala. Phrase, level B1. Literally a 'nature calamity'. On the island it's first of all flood, landslide and tsunami, and the news uses exactly this turn. In a live sentence: “ස්වභාවික ව්යසනයක් නිසා පාසල් වහලා” — Because of the natural disaster the schools are closed. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ස, ්, ව, භ, ා, ව, ි, ක, ව, ්, ය, ස.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | ස්වභාවික ව්යසනය |
| Read in Latin letters | svabhāvika vyasanaya |
| Translation | natural disaster |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | B1 |
- ස්වභාවික ව්යසනයsvabhāvika vyasanayanatural disaster
Why it looks that way
Literally a 'nature calamity'. On the island it's first of all flood, landslide and tsunami, and the news uses exactly this turn
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.
- ස්වභාවික ව්යසනයක් නිසා පාසල් වහලාsvabhāvika vyasanayak nisā pāsal vahalāBecause of the natural disaster the schools are closed
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 “natural disaster” in Sinhala?
«ස්වභාවික ව්යසනය», read “svabhāvika vyasanaya”. In a live sentence: “ස්වභාවික ව්යසනයක් නිසා පාසල් වහලා” — Because of the natural disaster the schools are closed. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Phrase, level B1; written with the characters ස, ්, ව, භ, ා, ව, ි, ක, ව, ්, ය, ස.
How is “ස්වභාවික ව්යසනය” written in Latin letters?
svabhāvika vyasanaya. 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?
Literally a 'nature calamity'. On the island it's first of all flood, landslide and tsunami, and the news uses exactly this turn. 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.