Talk multilingual, write multilingual!

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

and and we hope your response will be

and In the meantime, here’s what you need to know.

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. 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.