Sri Lanka Languages

The Island of Sri Lanka has two official languages: Sinhalese and Tamil. The majority of Sri Lankans speak the two official languages. Sinhalese has its alphabetic order which consists of the Brahmic script, and the Sinhalese alphabet which is made up of 53 characters. The Tamil alphabet is made up of 247 characters with one unique character (āytam). Apart from the two official languages other languages spoken in Sri Lanka include English, Sri Lankan sign language, Veddah, Sri Lankan Creole Malay, Arabic, and Indo-Portuguese. Sinhalese is the language spoken by the majority the people on the island.

Majority of the people speak the Sinhalese language, which is about 79.9% of the total population. English is spoken by about 10% of the population. It is mainly used in urban centers and used as a second language by many Sri Lankans. The remaining 10.1% of the populations speak Tamil and other minority languages.

Although Sri Lanka has two official languages, the majority of people speak English with a few words from the two official languages. Some of the common phrases heard in the island nation of Sri Lanka include “Mage nama” which means my name is, “Hari rasai” which means delicious, “kaama” means food, “hotela” means a hotel, “Metana nawaththanna” means please stop here, “naa” means no, “Istuti” means thank you, and “Hari hondai” means very good or ok among others. These words are common and are not that difficult to learn a few. The languages also consist of loaned words from English.

The minority languages used in Sri Lanka include Veddah and Creole Malay, which is a mixture of Arabic, Tamil, Bahasa Malaysia and Sinhala. Sri Lanka's official languages are used widely, but English is used by many as a second language.

This page was last modified on May 1st, 2018

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Published on 2019-11-06


Capital	Colombo
Languages	Sinhala (official and national language) 74%, Tamil (official and national language) 18%, other 8%
Ethnic Groups	Sinhalese 74.9%, Sri Lankan Tamil 11.2%, Sri Lankan Moors 9.2%, Indian Tamil 4.2%, other 0.5% (2012 est.)
Religion	Buddhist (official) 70.2%, Hindu 12.6%, Muslim 9.7%, Roman Catholic 6.1%, other Christian 1.3%, other 0.05% (2012 est.)
Government	Presidential republic
Independance	4 February 1948 (from the UK)
Area	65,610.00 km²
Water Area	980.00 km²
Land Area	64,630.00 km²
Population	21,203,000.00 The population is primarily concentrated within a broad wet zone in the southwest, urban centers along the eastern coast, and on the Jaffna Peninsula in the north
Location	Southern Asia, island in the Indian Ocean, south of India
GDP(PPP)	$237,000,000,000.00 (USD)
GDP (Per Capita)	$11,200.00 (USD)
Export Partners	Its major export partners are the United States, the United Kingdom, and India.
Export Commodities	Its main exports are textiles and apparel, tea and spices, and rubber manufactures.
Import Partners	Its major import partners are India, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates.
Import Commodities	Its major imports include petroleum, textiles, machinery, and building materials.
Climate	Hot and dry; arid desert; rainy season varies by region (April to November)
Terrain	Mostly low, flat to rolling plain; mountains in south-central interior
Learn More	Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka Languages

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