Languages of Sri Lanka

Several languages are spoken in Sri Lanka by its natives, which are belonging to the Indo-Aryan, Dravidian and Austronesian families. Most of these languages are deeply influenced by the languages of neighbouring countries like India, Maldives and Malaysia. Even the Arab settlers and the people of European countries like Portugal, the Netherlands and the Britain have also influenced the development of modern languages in the island nation.

But, the official language of Sri Lanka is Sinhala and Tamil. The Sinhala language is very popular in the country as it is spoken by approximately 70% of the national population (13 million Sinhalese people). It utilizes the Sinhala abugida script, which is derived from the ancient Brahmi Script. Another official language of Sri Lanka is Tamil. It is spoken by Sri Lankan Tamils, as well as by Tamil migrants from the neighboring Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Even the traders from other countries had adopted Tamil as their language of medium. A form of Tamil influenced by Arabic is spoken by the Moor ethnic minority. Creole Malay language is another significant language of the country which is spoken by nearly 50, 000 people. This language is strongly influenced by Malay language.

But, if you are not a native of Sri Lanka and aware of all these aforementioned languages then you can use English to communicate as it is quite popular among the Sri Lankas.