User talk:Parkbench
Add topicThanks a lot for your appreciation. It's heartening to see that someone finds the phrasebook useful. I've been teaching English to Sinhala speakers in Sri Lanka, where I was born and grew up speaking both languages, and thought it was time for me to help an English speaker learn some Sinhala too. That's how I got to contribute to this.
If you're learning Sinhala, probably the most important thing to bear in mind is that there are lots of differences between the spoken and the written forms. The spoken variety is far easier to learn; for example, you don't have to learn so many complicated verb forms as the same verb form is used for the first, second or third person - singular or plural. The downside is that those who wish to gain a more all-round knowledge will have to learn two ways of saying almost everything.
You might also find it useful to have a look at the free course linked below if you haven't already done so. (It deals with spoken Sinhala too. Unfortunately, it doesn't come with an audio component like some other FSI courses.) https://www.livelingua.com/fsi-sinhala-course.php
Feel free to ask any questions and I'll get back to you with answers when I have time.
Regards,
Sujeewa de Silva
--Sujeewads (talk) 13:35, 23 September 2015 (UTC)
I've sent you a request on Skype (usernameː sujeewads1). After you add me to your contacts, we definitely can have a chat over Sinhala. It'll be a pleasure to help someone who wants to learn our language. I'll be able to talk to you sometime between 8.30 am and 12 noon or between 7.30 pm and 10.30 pm, local time (UTC+05:30), except next Saturday.
I don't think you'll learn much from that book (Let's Learn Sinhala Vol. 1) as it's all about writing Sinhala vowels and consonants. Even the other books in the series (I've seen four of them) only deal with various aspects of the writing system. As you already know the alphabet pretty well, all you can do with the series is get some more reading/writing practice.
To my knowledge, the only book that gives a more or less comprehensive introduction to basic Sinhala, presenting both the spoken and written forms simultaneously, is Teach Yourself Sinhalese by A. W. L. Silva (ISBN 9789559692683). The latest edition of the book has just come out and costs just about US$ 10 here in Sri Lanka. Only one Sri Lankan retailer sells it online at the moment, even offering a 20% discount till the end of the month, but I don't know what their overseas shipping costs are going to be.
And you might find this blog interesting too: Lazy But Smart Sinhala Blog It'll also give you the chance to listen to some spoken Sinhala because it contains videos and podcasts.
See you soon.