Sri Lankans should learn Sinhala and Tamil - MP J Sri Ranga

Learning Sinhalese and Tamil languages will be of benefit to Sri Lankans said Nuwara Eliya district Parliamentarian and Citizen's Front Secretary J. Sri Ranga.

Speaking at an awards ceremony for Sinhala students who had completed the Tamil language course at Colombo University, he said that in Sri Lanka there are only two languages, unlike in India and some other countries.

"Sinhala and Tamil have been declared official languages in the constitution. English is our second language", he said.

He said that communication is part and parcel of human life. We cannot express our ideas through the mother tongue alone.

We must learn other languages and improve our capacity to work in other languages as well.

According to the census of 2001 the world Tamil population is 68 million and there are 1863 Tamil publications circulated worldwide.

In countries such as Singapore and India, Tamil language has been given official status.

Meanwhile, the Singapore Finance Minister has said that the Sri Lankan Tamils play a major role in the economic development of Singapore.

- LSAW