Encountering culture...

Howdi,

im just spending a little time looking over all the information I've collected and been given by VSO about the area I will be living in Sri Lanka ...

I'm going to be spending the first four weeks of my time in Sri Lanka completing an induction program where I will have opportunity to learn a bit more of the realities of life and cultures in Sri Lanka, visit some of the main towns in the south of the country ... Kandy - in the middle of Sri Lanka in an area known as the hill country - where Ceylon tea is largely harvested ... and Matara - which is on the very southern coast of Sri Lanka - not far from Galle. It has also been suggested that these visits may include opportunity to stay with local families in the areas, to experience first-hand of real Sri Lankan life.

I am going to be based in Galle throughout the year, but will have time to visit other areas of the country during weekends or bank holiday periods ... incidently Sri Lanka celebrates a very large number of bank holidays for all the celebrations under the sun it could ... so it might turn out that I have slightly more time than the 21 days annual leave per year that I have been given, to explore or travel in-country. There are three other VSO volunteers starting in November with me, who will be living in the Capital Columbo; and another Dutch volunteer who will be living further inland within the South of the country. Galle itself has a largely Sinhalese community, with the majority of Tamil people living in the north and east of the country.

This will also be opportunity for me to have intensive lessons in learning a basic working knowledge of SINHALA. Sinhala is the official and national language of Sri Lanka with more than 75% of people speaking it as a first language, while around 20% of people speak Tamil as a national language. Most people of educated background also learn English as a main language. I am expected to begin to learn Sinhala during my 4 week induction period, and continue to practice and use it during my stay.

Sinhala appears to be a very interesting and curious language. It is described as an 'Indo-Aryan' language like Bengali, Hindi and Punjabi, however developed in isolation from the other members of its language family. It has been greatly affected by travel and trade over the centuries, and some words can be found from a number of languages including Dutch, Portuguese, English and Malay. Although the grammar of Sinhala seems daunting to English speakers at first, its relative flexibility allows speakers to have a go at making sentences and still be understood ... which is a huge relief to me !!!

So I will leave you will a few phrases in Sinhala for you to have a go at pronouncing ...

I'm pleased to meet you .....
o-bah dha-nah-gan-nah la-bee-mah sah-thu-tahk .....

How are you ?
ko-ho-mah-dhah ?

Good, thank you .....
hon-dhin in-nah-waah .....

What's your name ?
o-beh nah-mah mo-kahk-dhah ?

My name is .....
mah-geh nah-mah .....