Word for the Travel Wise (06/24/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

One of my biggest travel fantasies of all time is to go some place like India or Sri Lanka and work in a media environment. Of course Bollywood has been on the very top of that list, but i-to-i offers some pretty mouth-watering volunteer programs for parties interested in working at the local newspaper in Colombo or with the Bangalore Magazine in India. Erik touched on this earlier. If media ventures are your sort of thing while traveling abroad I suggest you give it a glance. One of these days I’m going to actually buckle down and save to hang out in the Sri Lanka, but for now it’ll just stay at the top of my list.

Today’s word is a Sinhala word used in Sri Lanka:

ga ma – village

English is spoken by ten percent of the population and Sinhala is the official and national language of the country. I’ve actually never tried to learn this one much, but judging from the alphabet it looks like a challenge. Omniglot has a great starter page on learning all the characters and use of this English to Sinhala dictionary could slowly help in distinguishing common travel words. Let’s Speak Sinhala offers lessons at a very small and reasonable fee. They appear to be one of the better Sinhala language learning websites.

Past Sinhala words: hari shook, a da

Pology – June Issue

by Adrienne Wilson on

Should you be having an easy going kind of Saturday evening with nothing on your agenda except doing the laundry and viewing a few World Cup games you may also wish to swing by Pology online. We’ve mentioned it before here at Gadling, but the June issue is so darn good I felt the need to give it a plug once more. I usually head over to get the latest in culture topics around the planet, but today I was only there for the eye candy. Start with Thailand in pictures where you’ll find women in hill tribes playing on laptops and a smiling toothless Thai woman. It may sound odd here, but you’ll need to see it for yourself. I haven’t seen such a beautiful well-rounded batch of photos from the area in a long while. That alone makes it worth the visit.

Word for the Travel Wise (05/09/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Over the last few days I’ve been a bit off on my word postings, but I’ve got a grand excuse for why that is or was shall I say. For starters I’m walking across the country at the moment and secondly I’ve been thinking about the languages I’ve been covering and thinking which langs aren’t getting covered enough. Sure French and Spanish are all swell and dandy, but it’s really time to step up our game and tune into other lesser known languages. Wouldn’t you agree? Are you up for the challenge? Then let’s proceed…

Today’s word is a Sinhala word used in Sri Lanka:

a da – today

English is spoken by ten percent of the population and Sinhala is the official and national language of the country. I’ve actually never tried to learn this one much, but judging from the alphabet it looks like a challenge. Omniglot has a great starter page on learning all the characters and use of this English to Sinhala dictionary could slowly help in distinguishing common travel words. Let’s Speak Sinhala offers lessons at a very small and reasonable fee. They appear to be one of the better Sinhala language learning websites.

Past Sinhala words: hari shook

Word for the Travel Wise (03/22/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

I’m going to spare all the chit-chat for the sake of providing a well thought out game plan in achieving greater language capabilities after today’s word lesson. Not because the language is spoken by billions of people globally, but simply because I have nothing clever to say at the moment. It’s just one of those days.

Today’s word is a Sri Lankan Tamil word used in Sri Lanka:

vanakkam – hello

Tamil is only one of several langs heard in this Southeast Asian country and is not considered an official one for the record. Also spoken in certain areas of India, Malaysia, and Singapore the Tamil language like most, is best picked up on when listening to the pronunciation of speakers within each country. Web resources for leaning online include Ominglot’s guide to written language, Tamil Nation (everything you want to know about Tamil – almost), LearnTamil.com, and Tamil.net. None of the links seemed to knock my socks off or really impress me to go into great detail about them today, but there is most certainly a thing or possibly two to learn.

Past words from Sri Lanka: hari shook

Word for the Travel Wise (01/19/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

If for some reason you fancy a good show of elephant polo and can’t begin to find the words to describe how ecstatic you are at the chance of seeing the sport live keep reading. Like any animal lover in the beginning you were filled with skepticism, wondering how well the fun-loving creatures would be treated behind closed doors and even while participating in the sport, but after learning that they are looked after to the fullest measure you calm down. Sri Lanka’s International Elephant Polo Tournament kicks off Tuesday, January 24, 2006 in the southern historic city of Galle and knowing the event is used to raise awareness and funds for elephant conservation makes a trip to the tear-dropped shaped country all the better.

Today’s word is a Sinhala word used in Sri Lanka:

hari shook – wonderful, terrific, or fine

This word can be used to describe your feelings at any time in the country and not only at games of elephant polo. Use it when someone inquires about your meal, hotel stay, trek, or day at the beach. Tell them how ‘hari shook’ you think Sri Lanka is and how you wish to stay forever. Just remember to keep the dramatics to a minimal. English is spoken by ten percent of the population and Sinhala is the official and national language of the country. I’ve actually never tried to learn this one much, but judging from the alphabet it looks like a challenge. Omniglot has a great starter page on learning all the characters and use of this English to Sinhala dictionary could slowly help in distinguishing common travel words. Let’s Speak Sinhala offers lessons at a very small and reasonable fee. They appear to be one of the better Sinhala language learning websites.