sinhala
Sinhala
Sinhala
Essays
- Lots of info on the history, relationship to other languages, grammar, phonology,
- Article with map on the history, grammar, phonology, relationship to other languages and basic stats on Sinhala.
- Short article on foreigners learning Sinhala.
- Information on the Sinhala alphabet, with a chart of all the letters and a collection of links.
Courses
FSI Sinhala Basic Course 1, 2, 3 (alternative) 1979
- Great course that teaches the Sinhala script, grammar and conversation, through 90 short cycles. Unfortunately no audio.
Colloquial Sinhalese Vol I & II by G. H. Fairbanks & others, 1968
- Long drill based course with conversations, translation exercises, grammar explanations and review lessons. Uses Sinhala script.
Websites
- 6 lessons so far with dialogues, vocabulary, grammar notes and audio. No exercises yet.
- A collection of survival phrases, a dictionary and some grammar & writing information.
Sinhala Language Page DEAD LINK
- Collection of links for Sinhala language & culture.
- Some information on learning Sinhala, as well as links for authentic materials.
- A big list of Sinhala slang with English translation.
- Several videos by a Sinhala learner teaching the Sinhala script and grammar points using a whiteboard.
シンハラ語の世界 Only available in Japanese
- Website about the similarities between Japanese and Sinhala, linguistic articles, articles about Sinhala grammar, script and more.
Script
- 4 lessons so far introducing the Sinhala script.
Scripts of all of Asia & Brahmi Scripts
- Comparative charts of Asian & Brahmi descended scripts.
E-books
Peace Corps Sinhala 1995
- Mainly intended for classroom use. Includes lesson plans, cultural notes and grammar handouts.
Literary Sinhala by J. W. Gair & W. S. Karunatilaka, 1974
- Explains the grammar of literary Sinhala with example sentences and long readings. Uses Sinhala script.
Samples of Contemporary Sinhala Prose by J. W. Gair & W. S. Karunatilaka, 1976
- 27 short readings of authentic Sinhala prose with glossary and grammatical notes, designed to accompany 'Literary Sinhala'.
Literary Sinhala Inflected Forms by J. W. Gair & W. S. Karunatilaka, 1976
- A reference guide to inflected forms, as well as an explanation of the writing system with handwritten examples.
シンハラ語研修テキスト (Singhalese Language Training Textbook) by S. Nakamura, 1987 (no. A173-175)
- Some complimentary copies may be available from the university if you e-mail them.
Sidath Sangarawa: A Grammar of the Singhalese Language by J. De Alwis, K. Dhammanda, 1852
- Quite dense grammar, using Sinhala script and only a short explanation of the script. Probably more useful to advanced learners.
Forums
- Big forum with forums for Sinhala culture, literature, history, religion etc. Also has a forum for language. Very nice.
- Small forum with a few useful posts.
- Only a few posts, however, most are translation requests.
- Small but active forum with some useful threads for Sinhala.
Authentic Materials
- Links for just about anything; radio, news, poetry, entertainment etc.
- Although the website is English, you can listen to radio programs in Sinhala.
- Interesting radio programs on current affairs, culture, entertainment, business etc. Visit 'archive' to listen to the mp3s.
- Blog with a large list of tele dramas, with videos for each episode.
- Downloadable novel.
- A collection of short stories available to download.
- Biographies of prominent Sinhalese authors and audio readings.
Technical
- Lots of different unicode fonts, support for web browsers, word applications and loads of helpful links. Very useful.
Native Language Research Centre
- Free Sinhala fonts and a downloadable word processor for typing in Sinhala.
- Online keyboard for typing in unicode Sinhala.
- Another online keyboard, this time with buttons to press for each letter.
English to Sinhala & Tamil Dictionary
- More than 28, 000 entries with audio pronunciation.
Commercial
Book reviews DEAD LINK
- Reviews and lists of Sinhala textbooks and dictionaries.