A brief introduction to Sinhalese

Sinhala/Sinhalese belongs to Indo-European language family and Indian language family, which is similar to other languages in northern India. Sinhalese is the main ethnic group in Sri Lanka, and it is also the main official language of Sri Lanka. Sinhala was formed in the sixth century BC. Sinhalese is spoken in most parts of Sri Lanka except the Northern Province. The user population is about 1 1 10,000, accounting for 73% of the national population. Sinhalese language teaching in China began at 196 1. At present, Beijing Foreign Studies University, China Communication University (formerly Beijing Broadcasting Institute) and Chongqing Normal University offer Sinhala majors.