Sinhala, spoken by the majority Sinhalese, and Tamil, spoken by the minority Tamil and Muslim groups, are Sri Lanka's two official languages. English is commonly used in most cities, especially Colombo, Kandy and Galle, and by government and tourism officials. Don't expect everyone, everywhere to be able to speak it fluently. In the beach and tourist areas you will have no problem with English. Most people in rural villages however cannot speak any English, beyond a few simple words.
Sinhala Language The greeting in Sinhala is "ayubowan", pronounced "aybohan" It means "May you live longer"; 'Thank you' is "Bohoma istuti, pronounced "bohame stutti" and "how are you" is "kohomada", pronounced "Ko homede""
Tamil Language: The greeting in Tamil is "Vanakkam"; 'Thank you' is "Nandri"
Sinhala writing is much more curved than Tamil. After a while, you'll learn how to distinguish between the two.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Sri Lanka
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Sri Lanka - updated Apr 2024
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Sri Lanka Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
