First Italian – Sinhala dictionary released

(FASTNEWS|COLOMBO) – The first Italian – Sinhala dictionary has been released. Its goal is to help Sri Lankan immigrants in Italy, the AsiaNews reported.

Published by the National Fisheries Solidarity Movement (NAFSO), Viva l’Italia! (Long live Italy) is the work of Alex Van Arkadie, a Sri Lankan Catholic and a retired official with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) who has been living in Italy for about 40-years.

The book’s official launch took place on 31 January at the NAFSO Offices in Negombo, North of the capital.

Several top clerics were present, including Mgr Oswald Gomis, Archbishop Emeritus of Colombo, Mgr Kumana Illansasinghe, Anglican Bishop of the Diocese of Kurunegala, and Fr Eardley Mendis, from Colombo’s St. Michael’s Church.

For the Author, the drive to publish a dictionary came from seeing the linguistic difficulties migrants confront in a new land. For 10-years, Arkadie has been a volunteer teacher of language to foreigners at san Timoteo Parish just outside of Rome.

The 80-page tome, which includes exercises in English, Sinhala, and Italian, is available for five euros at Church facilities, the Sri Lankan Embassy in Italy and the NAFSO Headquarters in Negombo.

“We do not encourage people to emigrate,” said Herman Kumara, NAFSO’s National Coordinator, “But given our country’s situation, we cannot oppose it. It is our duty to help people who look abroad for a better future.”