Learn in a school
If you are looking to study language in an academic atmosphere, you have a choice of schools in Sri Lanka. The benefits of learning language in this setting are numerous - you will most likely have a native speaker as your teacher, your peers will be learning at the same pace as you and the classroom atmosphere provides a non-intimidating setting to practice pronunciation and conversation with others also learning the language. Not to mention the accreditations of the school and the variety of language courses that are available.
The following schools offer courses to learn Sinhala, Tamil and English, among others. Both are located in Colombo.
- The Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS)
- International Language Centre Colombo (ILC)
Online learning
There are extensive resources to learn languages online. Of course, you do not get the experience of a classroom setting, but for those who are already living in Sri Lanka, or would like to get a head start on the beginnings of learning a language, online is a great place to start.
Learn Sinhala:
mylanguages.org/learn_sinhala.php
Learn Tamil:
www.tamilcube.com/tamil.aspx
mylanguages.org/learn_tamil.php
Language exchange
One of the best ways to study or practice a language is to participate in a language exchange program. You may post an ad on Just Landed’s forum, or other expat networking sites, to seek out language exchange partners or groups.
There are also websites that specialize in helping people who want to participate in language exchanges connect with each other.
Two to begin your search:
www.mylanguageexchange.com
www.italki.com/partners/
Practice on your own
This will only work if you are living in the country of which you wish to learn the language, but it is a method that will never fail you - go out and speak to the people! Use the language you wish to learn as often as possible, even if it means you make mistakes. Most likely, people will have patience with you, as they will know that it is not your native language. Be careful, though, because there are plenty of people that are looking for any opportunity to practice their English!