Colombo, Sri Lanka (Copyright)
The Sinhalese language or Sinhala has about 16 million native speakers. It is the most widely spoken language in Sri Lanka and one of the two official languages there along with Tamil.
Sinhalese is an indoeuropean language, which means that it actually has similarities to European languages, unlike Tamil or other ancient Dravidian languages of South India.
The Sinhalese language has its own alphabet, which is similar to Hindi and other Southeast Asian scripts.
Suitable for: Beginners and Advanced Learners, Students, Professionals
Content: 1300 words (basic course), 5200 words (complete course), grammar, verb conjugations, exercises
Prices: $59.95 (Basic Course), $127 (Complete Course)
Overall Value: 
The Sinhalese Basic Course contains a vocabulary trainer for the basic Sinhalese vocabulary (1300 words) with native-speaker audio, as well as grammar explanations and various exercises.
The vocabulary trainer works with a long-term memory method, in which the new vocabulary is checked at increasing intervals.
You can choose between text input, multiple choice or simply confirming whether you knew a word or not.
The exercises include text comprehension questions, filling in word gaps or just vocabulary lists where one side is covered.
The basic course corresponds to the official language levels A1 and A2 (explanation of CEFR language levels).
The Complete Course contains:
Summary: Much cheaper and even better than the famous Rosetta Stone. There is a free demo version available and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Link: Sinhalese Basic Course and Complete Course
Content: Sinhalese vocabulary trainer (2000 words), lessons and exercises
Prices:
USD 12 (1 month all 160 languages)
USD 60 (12 months all 160 languages)
Discount offer: USD 199
(Lifetime Access to all 160 Languages)
Overall Value:
The uTalk app teaches about 2000 Sinhalese words and focuses primarily on playful exercises. There are several exercises to choose from:
The interface of the app is well made and is similar to other apps like Babbel, Duolingo or Mondly.
Summary: Getting access to 160 languages is impressive and the scope (2000 words with native speaker audio and exercises) is also solid.
Link: uTalk Sinhalese Language Course App
Content: Sinhalese video lessons and quiz tests
Prices: $12.99 (one course), $24.99 (4-7 courses bundle)
Overall Value: 
Cudoo is a kind of online university that offers courses with certificates on different topics.
This includes language courses for 160 languages. These are all beginner courses (CEFR level A1 and A2).
For each language there are 1-10 courses and each course has 20-40 lessons.
The lessons each include a short video with new vocabulary and there are short quiz questions below the video.
Summary: The videos are well made, so especially for smaller languages these courses are a good start.
Link: Cudoo Online Sinhalese Language Course
Content: Sinhalese exercises with native speaker audio and speech recognition
Prices: $9.99 (1 month), $100 (12 months), $200 (unlimited), $400 (163 languages)
Overall Value: 
The Bluebird App offers 146 source languages and 163 target languages and dialects, including Sinhalese.
The Sinhalese language course in this app includes the following:
There are about 500 video lessons for learning Sinhalese, each 5 to 60 minutes long. For languages with other scripts, the words can also be displayed transliterated in the Latin script.
The Bluebird app has no grammar lessons. Instead, you are supposed to understand the grammar "implicitly" from the examples, like in Rosetta Stone.
Summary: The video lessons and the interface take some getting used to, but the exercises are quite varied. Especially for smaller languages, this app is a viable alternative.
Content: Sinhalese lessons and exercises
Prices: $19.99 (1 month), $40 (3 months), $60 (6 months)
Overall Value: 
The Lingo Play App offers language courses for 70 languages. It offers "gamified learning", which means learning vocabulary in a playful way.
Each Sinhalese lesson offers the following exercises:
There is also a multiplayer mode and competitions where you can test your Sinhalese skills against other people.
Summary: Overpriced Sinhalese course that does offer some good exercises, but is not better than other similar apps.
Suitable for: Beginners and intermediate learners, travel vocabulary, business
Content: Sinhalese vocabulary lessons and exercises
Prices: $35 (Level 1), $55 (Level 1-3)
Overall Value:
The Instant Immersion Sinhalese learning software is available for download only for PCs and Macs.
According to the vendor, this software is supposed to be "as good as Rosetta Stone", but much cheaper because less money is spent on advertising.
Unfortunately, this promise cannot hold.
The software interface is chaotic and all three "language levels" offer a chaotic mix of easy and difficult words.
Essentially, this software only introduces new Sinhalese vocabulary with native speaker audio and pictures, and then there are a few exercises.
Sinhalese grammar is not included at all.
Summary: Limited scope and bad interface. At least it is relatively cheap and there is a 90-day money-back guarantee.
Content: Sinhalese lessons with native speaker audio and speech recognition, grammar
Prices: $35 (second language for free)
Overall Value:
The Linguashop educational software ("TeachMe") is available for over 90 languages, including Sinhalese. It also includes an audio CD.
The native speaker audio and speech recognition are relatively good.
However, the interface of the learning software is quite chaotic and there are no exercises — only lessons where new vocabulary is presented.
It is also unclear how many words are included in this Sinhalese learning program. There is no information about this on the website.
Some grammar lessons are included — however, these are basically just images with short texts.
Summary: Poor quality for a relatively low price. You get language courses for two languages when you buy, one as a free bonus.
Colanguage: Find Skype teachers
Overall Value:
At Colanguage you can arrange face-to-face language lessons online via Skype with language teachers around the world (from $5-10 per hour).
In addition to using apps, it is definitely a good idea to also practice with native speakers in order to learn Sinhalese properly.
Tandem: Find a language exchange partner
Overall Value:
Instead of hiring teachers, you can also find people who are interested in a free language exchange online via Skype.
It is completely free of charge, but you have to act as a language teacher for the other person half of the time.
| Learning App | Subscription? | Price | Systems |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 Minutes (Basics) |
Apps |
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| 17 Minutes (Complete) | Apps |
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| uTalk | Apps |
||
| uTalk | month | Apps |
|
| uTalk | months | Apps |
|
| Cudoo (one course) |
Access |
||
| Cudoo (complete) |
Access |
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| Bluebird |
Apps |
||
| Bluebird |
month |
Apps |
|
| Bluebird |
months |
Apps |
|
| Lingo Play |
month |
Apps |
|
| Lingo Play |
months |
Apps |
|
| Ins. Immersion (one course) | |||
| Ins. Immersion (complete) | |||
| Linguashop |
Best App to Learn Sinhalese:
uTalk App
Best Sinhalese Online Course:
17 Minute Languages
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