[lg policy] Sri Lanka to implement language policy for consumer products

[Harold Schiffman]

Sri Lanka to implement language policy for consumer products
Updated: 2011-08-28 13:14:00


COLOMBO, August 28 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka is to strictly impose its
official language policy in display of consumer products at retail
stores, officials said Sunday.

The Ministry of National Languages and Social Integration said display
of product details in both majority Sinhala language and minority
Tamil language would be strictly enforced soon.

Currently trade names and product details are indicated mostly in English.

Sinhala and Tamil languages are officially recognized in the island's
constitution. However English is used mostly for commercial purposes.
Even the public road names are mostly only in English.

Since two years ago, the ministry has taken steps to implement the
official language policy of giving due recognition to both Sinhala and
Tamil.

The ministry has directed that public correspondence handled by the
state must also be done in Tamil.

The language issue was a long standing grievance of the Tamil minority
since Sri Lanka in 1956 made Sinhala the only state language.

In the early 1990s Tamil was conferred official status with English as
the link language.

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