The "Google Translate" Trap
We’ve all done it. You have a sentence perfectly locked in your head in your mother tongue. You grab your mental dictionary, translate every single word one-by-one into English, and say it out loud with full confidence. You expect communication. Instead? You get blank stares.
As a Sri Lankan learner, my biggest enemy wasn't vocabulary—it was culture. I used to think that if I just swapped every Sinhala word for an English one, I’d be fluent. I was dead wrong.
The "I Will Go and Come" Disaster
The classic example of this is the Sri Lankan farewell. You know how it is in our homes—it feels like bad luck to just say "I’m going" (Yanawa). It sounds so final, like you’re never coming back. So, to be polite and superstitious, we say, "Mam gihilla ennam"—which literally translates to "I will go and come."
When I first started speaking with foreigners, I would look them dead in the eye and say, "Okay, I will go and come!"
I didn't understand why they looked so confused. To them, it sounded like I was just running to the bathroom and would be back in five minutes. I wasn't just using the wrong grammar; I was trying to force a Sinhala cultural rule into an English linguistic space. That was my lightbulb moment: Language isn't just code; it's context. In English, a simple "See you later" is enough. It doesn't carry the "bad luck" curse we are so afraid of.
Breaking the "Singlish" Habit
If you find yourself making these mistakes, don't beat yourself up. It just means your brain is active! But if you want to move from "Singlish" to actual English, you have to stop translating words and start translating situations.
Don't ask: "What is the English word for Gihilla ennam?"
Do ask: "What do Americans say when they leave a party?"
It’s about catching the vibe, not just the vocabulary.
Interactive Element: The "Singlish" Quiz
Can you guess the correct English phrase for these direct translations? Try to answer in the comments!
"Cousin Brother"
Correct English: Cousin (English doesn't separate gender for cousins!)
"To put a piece"
Correct English: To flirt or hit on someone.
"He is having a madness"
Correct English: He is acting crazy/silly.
(Reader Task: Leave a comment with a funny direct translation you have heard!)
The Story Behind the Post
Why I wrote this: I didn't pick this topic at random. I picked it because it used to be my biggest insecurity. I still cringe when I remember my university lecturer stopping me in the middle of a sentence to ask, "What is a cousin brother? Is he your cousin or your brother?" I wanted to disappear.
How I did it: To draft this, I actually scribbled down a list of about ten different "Singlish" mistakes we all make, but I settled on the "Go and Come" example because that’s the one that hits closest to home for most Sri Lankans.
About the sketch: And yes, that doodle is mine. It’s not a masterpiece, but I drew it myself to visually capture that weird gap between what our hearts mean and what our mouths actually say.
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