ඔලිම්පික් තරගාවලිය
“ඔලිම්පික් තරගාවලිය” (olimpik taragāvaliya) — the Olympics in Sinhala. Noun, level B1. The familiar 'contest' plus 'a series': it comes out 'a string of contests'. A school olympiad in a subject isn't called this — that's 'a contest'. In a live sentence: “ඔලිම්පික් තරගාවලිය අවුරුදු හතරකට වතාවක්” — The Olympics are once in four years. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ඔ, ල, ි, ම, ්, ප, ි, ක, ්, ත, ර, ග.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | ඔලිම්පික් තරගාවලිය |
| Read in Latin letters | olimpik taragāvaliya |
| Translation | the Olympics |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | B1 |
- ඔලිම්පික් තරගාවලියolimpik taragāvaliyathe Olympics
Why it looks that way
The familiar 'contest' plus 'a series': it comes out 'a string of contests'. A school olympiad in a subject isn't called this — that's 'a contest'
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.
- ඔලිම්පික් තරගාවලිය අවුරුදු හතරකට වතාවක්olimpik taragāvaliya avurudu hatarakaṭa vatāvakThe Olympics are once in four years
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 Olympics” in Sinhala?
«ඔලිම්පික් තරගාවලිය», read “olimpik taragāvaliya”. In a live sentence: “ඔලිම්පික් තරගාවලිය අවුරුදු හතරකට වතාවක්” — The Olympics are once in four years. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level B1; written with the characters ඔ, ල, ි, ම, ්, ප, ි, ක, ්, ත, ර, ග.
How is “ඔලිම්පික් තරගාවලිය” written in Latin letters?
olimpik taragāvaliya. 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?
The familiar 'contest' plus 'a series': it comes out 'a string of contests'. A school olympiad in a subject isn't called this — that's 'a contest'. 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.