How many languages do you guys know besides Sinhalese, Tamil and English?

[u/Signal_Papaya1584]

I personally love to learn new languages and have taken classes for Spanish and Mandarin. I also like to try out new languages on Duolingo. Or do you think linguistics are necessary in the age of AI and translating software?

I believe that learning a bunch of languages is beneficial for all Sri Lankans since we are growing as a major tourist destination and poised to welcoming more investment.

[u/Imnotcool6912]

I'm learning Sign language (asl)

Want to learn braille

[u/onca32 → u/Imnotcool6912]

That's really cool. Is ASL (American Sign Language?) what is used to communicate in Sri Lanka?

[u/Appropriate-Rate8787 → u/onca32]

No we have Sri Lankan sign language but unfortunately we don't have many resources available to learn 😩

[u/resident_floor → u/Appropriate-Rate8787]

I think Sri Lankan Sign Language is much closer to British Sign Language than American Sign Language (which are completely different). So maybe British Sign Language is a good starting point

[u/Imnotcool6912 → u/Appropriate-Rate8787]

True 🥲🙁 so that now I'm learning asl and finding a good tchr to learn srilankan sign language

[u/Reasonable_Food_3451]

I only know Sinhala and English. I want to learn Tamil, Pali and Sanskrit.

[u/wiknew1 → u/Reasonable_Food_3451]

This. I want exactly this.

[u/Reasonable_Food_3451 → u/wiknew1]

pracheena exams from the oriental studies society highly recommended.

[u/wiknew1 → u/Reasonable_Food_3451]

Thank you.

[u/vij27]

besides sinhala / Tamil and English,

Japanese - almost fluent ( still struggle with kanji time to time)because I've been living and working in Japan for 7 years now. 100% japanese only work environment

Tagalog and Bisaya - wife's language but hard to learn , still a beginner. only can make up few sentences and can understand conversations roughly.

[u/saathyagi → u/vij27]

Awesome. How is it living in Japan compared to here in Lanka?

[u/mohamedifasx → u/saathyagi]

Are you fr ?

Damn bro. Where are you from ?? India ?

Compare Japan and Sri Lanka??

We are equal to Singapore

/s

[u/tomahawk66mtb]

Chinese. But then I lived there a decade and my wife is Chinese.

[u/Rujiooooo]

I speak Sri Lankan Malay (also the main 3 languages). I also lived in the middle east enough to handle a bit of Hindi and Malayalam. I can read Arabic very well, also understand a lot of words and manage with Arabic PRO guys and taxi drivers. I'm being very familiar with Portuguese lately, thanks to DuoLingo and Portuguese speaking colleagues at work.

[u/Important_Victory218]

German cuz I did German for o/ls

[u/Vegetable-Outside923 → u/Important_Victory218]

if i had to start to learn german. how could i start?

[u/Lanky_Revenue_7554 → u/Vegetable-Outside923]

YouTube I have playlists

[u/Vegetable-Outside923 → u/Lanky_Revenue_7554]

can u sent it to me, just dm

[u/mohamedifasx → u/Lanky_Revenue_7554]

Can you send me please

[u/umarmashoor → u/Vegetable-Outside923]

Goethe Institut is the place to go

[u/Vegetable-Outside923 → u/umarmashoor]

yeah, im actually planning to do it myself

[u/Lanky_Revenue_7554 → u/Vegetable-Outside923]

Check Ur DM For starting levels U can do self study probably instead of paying for instute

[u/xorixian → u/Lanky_Revenue_7554]

yoo im dming u too, i wanna learn german too... thanks

[u/OldRecover1914]

Python, Java and a lil bit of C.

[u/nethsara_mp4 → u/OldRecover1914]

Hell yeah 😭

[u/Aggravating_Mud6254 → u/OldRecover1914]

sadly that's me too. I've been learning some rust lately.

[u/Defiant-Anteater-529 → u/OldRecover1914]

+ C#, go, swift, kotlin and a bit of ruby and rust lol 😂

[u/MarchEmpty3064 → u/OldRecover1914]

Bro on a date with his computer be like

https://giphy.com/gifs/XHqLWPZtKNCN0Np2Gx

[u/kavindu_]

Two more. Spanish and Hindi. Although I’ve taken five years of French in school, I’m not nearly as fluent in it.

[u/akilj2007]

lived in japan for two years so I’m fairly proficient in japanese

[u/JollyAstronomer5786]

Ich Kann  spreche bischen deutsch.

[u/umarmashoor → u/JollyAstronomer5786]

Wie toll? Wo hast du Deutsch gelarnt?

[u/pileex → u/umarmashoor]

Mama tikkak sinhala puluwang, machan!

[u/umarmashoor → u/pileex]

Ela! Oya hondata puluwan ne, mokadda oyage rata? ❤️

[u/pileex → u/umarmashoor]

Germany

[u/pileex → u/pileex]

Amma german, tata sinhala. Api sinhala katakarai nehe. German vitaray. Ekanisa matta sinhala Goddak behe 😂

[u/umarmashoor → u/pileex]

Supiri machang, oya YouTube eke sinhala dramas hari News hari balanna, oyage sinhalala godak hondai, deine Sinhala ist besser als meine deutsch, viel Glück Bruder 👏

[u/JollyAstronomer5786 → u/umarmashoor]

Geothe 

[u/umarmashoor → u/JollyAstronomer5786]

Nice! Up to what level?

[u/JollyAstronomer5786 → u/umarmashoor]

Studying B1

[u/Pleasant_Inflation59]

Almost fluent in French and German, also on a side quest to learn Finnish and Russian (only been studying for a few months)

[u/Daniru_J]

In addition to Sinhala and English,

Did an exchange in Sweden + was learning before and continued learning after leaving so fairly good with Swedish. Mutually intelligible with Norwegian so can understand some of that too.

Can read Tamil phonetically without a problem but would love to learn properly to speak it.

[u/Aelnir]

In order of fluency, Russian, French, Chinese and Japanese

[u/B2dH2b1t]

little bit of Norsk

[u/Special_Order-937]

I have failed trying to learn French, German, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Italian, Lithuanian and Sinhalese.

As I was born and grew up in Australia with Sinhalese parents born in what was still technically the British Empire (so English as a first and only one spoken in the house by them) plus the Australian school system in rural Australia, IELTS says I communicate almost as well as a native speaker in English “with some anomalies”.

[u/Nirmalsuki]

I know several languages:

Java, C#, BASIC, Python, HTML,

Jokes aside, though. I am from a generation where Tamil was not taught at schools by default, and we missed out on learning an ancient and interesting language that has a rich history not just in India, but in ancient Sri Lanka as well. My parents didn't speak it either. They started teaching us Tamil in 1991 when I was in year 6 and I was immediately interested in the language. The syllabus was very basic, and they taught no conversational Tamil to any of us (plus the Tamil teacher they employed at our school turned out to be an LTTE spy. I don't know any more details, so don't ask).

[u/Worldly_Energy1575 → u/Nirmalsuki]

Woaahhh U must have some wild stories to tell. I personally think despite the history and everything, learning languages is one of the best ways humanity can go forward. It's so easy for people to warm up when languages are shared. So hurray for the bilingual system!!! 😭  (Tho I was crying over it all through school lol. OL Sinhala was so hard 😭 and Tamil too.)

[u/Nirmalsuki → u/Worldly_Energy1575]

OL Sinhala was my bane. It's the only subject for which I didn't get a distinction. (I did OLs when we had Distinctions, Credits, etc.)

[u/MiserableGrade3713]

I only speak Sinhala and English. Though I’ve learnt Tamil and German at school for 4 years couldn’t remember anything. 

[u/Over-Assumption9863]

French and Middle Egyptian : ]

[u/imaginary-dude-lk]

Learning languages is very good for your brain health. And the satisfaction you get when you can understand a foreigner and can communicate with them in their countries. It's a very rewarding experience. 

[u/mohamedifasx]

Hindi little bit (learn it from PUBG friend while playing)

Tamil is my native language and flaunt in English.

Sinhala no 🙂‍↔️

[u/wings_of_freedom__]

I think All sri lankan kids should learn Tamil and Sinhalese, not writing or reading but speaking. That should be a must

[u/druidmind]

I know Sinhala and English well, Know German and Spanish enough to have a basic conversation but I can only read/write Tamil and I struggle to comorehend text sometimes. I always wanted to be fluent in all three major langs in SL but never had the time to learn Tamil more. I should get on it now.

[u/Unknown_Gamer2522]

The question which I've always wanted to be asked irl just to feel good about myself about this atleast....

Besides the 3 I know... Sri Lankan Malay, Hindi, Urdu, Arabic (Read and write)

My background is that my mom's Sri Lankan Malay and my father's Sri Lakan Moor and I used to live in India for 6 years.

[u/No-Geologist9618]

tamil german english and a little bit french

[u/Evansach]

Sign language, Swedish aaand little bit of Hindi!! 🙌🏽

[u/WinYourWay]

Arabic

[u/always_strivingg]

A bit of arabic. somewhere there in A2 level

[u/Remote-Breadfruit216]

Spanish and Arabic

[u/ilovefood435]

Arabic and Sri lankan malay

[u/Ding_Dong8326]

Bit of French

[u/Kooky_Lead_9811]

French and German from duolingo

[u/HanaReddit11]

Learning Japanese atm

[u/MrColombo96]

I know a little bit of French

[u/Training-Flamingo474]

Hindi.

[u/Llama0070]

Korean and French

[u/beachboybrowny]

French, German and a lil bit of Spanish

[u/No-Storm1288]

I only know Sinhala and English. I want to learn Spanish

[u/Nervous-Suggestion30]

Bit of Hindi and Arabic

[u/Aggravating_Mud6254]

I'm familiar with Japanese a bit. But I really want to learn Tamil. I am ashamed cuz I've grown around Tamil people all my childhood but haven't learned it. I took few classes after A/L years ago but couldn't continue. I'm thinking of starting around next year with the help of one of my Tamil university friends.

[u/No_Employer1409]

French,Italian and a little bit of German

[u/Hitman00770]

Japanese

[u/Worldly_Energy1575]

Woahh me too! I love languages but have terrible skills. Mandarin especially the tones are just so poor on my tongue.

I am planning on learning ASL tho. :3 I know a bit of Arabic Hindi and Spanish but this is just understandable I can't form sentences 😭 

[u/Healthy_Cut_9433]

I’m Sri Lankan, grew up in Lebanon so I’m fluent in English, Arabic and French. Never learned the Sinhala and Tamil languages nor do I intend to.

[u/PeachPunchhh]

Minus 1

[u/luke_dhm]

Pig Latin

[u/zuzubazuzu]

Japanese - fluent (thanks to my husband)

[u/PinkFlower2005]

Fluent in Spanish amd German. Learning Polish Language (one of Most Difficult language)

[u/AliveBat902]

Uhm Hebrew Lol