Talk multilingual, write multilingual!
View(s):Vanakkam, ayubowan and welcome to another edition of Take 3. To be trilingual in Sri Lanka has always made perfect sense and now several classes in and about the city offer you the opportunity to do just that. If you’re a visitor, you’ll find learning something of the local languages is one of the best ways to begin feeling at home. This week we’re in classrooms mastering how to say “kohomada?” and “eppadi sugam?” and we hope your response will be “hondai” and “nalla sugam.” In the meantime, here’s what you need to know.
Sri Lanka Foundation Institute
No. 100, Independence Square, Colombo 7. Tel: 11 2691814 / 2687506
SLFI offer both standard and spoken Tamil classes. The former is ‘just like a ladder’ allowing you to climb from a basic, to an intermediate and finally to an advanced class. The first segment will cost you Rs. 8,500, the second Rs.10,500 and the third Rs. 12,500. The duration of each is five months, with classes divided into weekly three hour sessions. If you’re intent on further progress you can then tackle their diploma course. Currently classes are held on weekdays.
SLFI’s next course begins in July and will be conducted by their two in house lecturers in collaboration with external resource people, primarily drawn from universities. While the standard course offers an introduction to the Tamil alphabet, the spoken course is all about sounding just right. The 60 hour course, which currently runs on Tuesdays from 1-4 p.m., costs Rs. 8,500. To apply you need to present yourself at the SLFI office, fill up a form and pay the registration fee of Rs. 500 (this is included in the fees) as well as at least half of your course fees.
Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies BMICH, Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo 7 Tel: 011 2676980
The academic wing of the S.W.R.D Bandaranaike National Memorial Foundation, BCIS is one of the best, most affordable places in town to learn a new language. Their language and cultural division is an active one, offering a multitude of classes including courses in Arabic, Chinese, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish and both Sinhala and Tamil.
The Sinhala beginners course is conducted by Chandini Tilakaratna, whose C.V includes being a Sinhala Language instructor to the U.S embassy in Sri Lanka as well as a posting as a lecturer in linguistics and teaching methodology at the University of Colombo. The class costs Rs. 12,500 and the 30 hours are divided up into weekly Wednesday evening sessions of three hours. Three lecturers take on Tamil language students: Mr. M.S.M Mahudoon is a senior lecturer with over 25 years of experience in teaching Tamil to government ministries, Mr. P. Hemachandra is a visiting Tamil lecturer of the University of Colombo and Wayamba National College of Education and Mr. M.S.M Jaleel is a lecturer attached to the Department of Official Languages who also specialises in teaching Tamil to public officials.
You can pick whether to take the Tamil class on Wednesday or Sunday. The basic level costs Rs.10,000 with subsequent levels costing Rs.12,000 and 13,000 respectively. To register, you should drop in on a working day (they’re closed Mondays) between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Remember to take along a passport sized photograph and a photocopy of your national ID/passport for your application form.
Michael Meyler’s classes
Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo 7. Website: www.mirisgala.net Email. michaelm@sltnet.lk
For 15 years Michael Meyler taught a popular Sinhala beginners’ course at the British Council and has since taken to teaching both Tamil and Sinhala classes independently. He is well known for his ‘Dictionary of Sri Lankan English’ and more recently for ‘SET: a trilingual dictionary of colloquial Sinhala, English and Tamil.’ All his publications – including a set of lovely alphabet cards as well as the trilingual book for children Keerthihan’s Kite – are focused on creating resources for learning Sinhala and Tamil.
Michael’s classes are known for being interactive and focusing on mastering colloquial Sinhala with a little bit of ‘akuru’ or alphabet studies thrown in for good measure. All the materials he uses in classes are developed by him and are based on communicative English language teaching methodology. He also introduces his own version of the phonetic script to students to help them master pronunciation. His Sinhala beginners class covers 40 hours of teaching, divided into twice a week sessions of two hours each. The entire course costs Rs.26,600. Subsequently, enrolling for the Sinhala 2 level (40 hours) also costs Rs. 26,600.
Michael, who is learning Tamil himself, co-teaches a beginners course with a native speaker of Tamil Rakshi Thambaiah. Like the Sinhala course, this 40 hour course also costs 26,600. Classes are currently underway, with new batches scheduled to begin in late September or early October.
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