Do You Speak Dhivehi ?
- 17 March 2022
- Local culture
- Joana
Concise And Helpful Dhivevi’s Dictionary To Know Before Your Maldives Holidays
The current Maldivians are descended from Indo-Aryan populations that came from the west and north-west of India from the middle of the 3rd millennium BC.
Thus the Maldivian language, Dhivehi, is part of the Indo-Aryan language family. Dhivehi is part of the same family as Sinhalese, the language of Sri Lanka, its neighboring country. Nevertheless, as close as these 2 languages are, the Sri Lankans do not necessarily understand Dhivehi and vice versa, just like the French who do not necessarily understand Italian or Spanish.
Dhivehi takes its roots in English, Arabic, Portuguese and Hindi.
It is also written in Thaana characters (see the picture below) and it is read from left to right as Arabic.
Here below the most helpful words / expressions that you will need to know :
| English | Dhivehi |
| Good Morning / Good Night | asalam aleykum |
| How are you ? | kihiné ta ? |
| Good, thanks and you ? | vara gada |
| I understand / I don’t understand | kiké tha bouni |
| Sorry | hithaamahuri |
| Goodbye | vakivani |
| Thank you | choukouriya |
| Yes / No | ahn/nouné |
| How much is it ? | mi kihavaraka ? |
| Boat | dhoani, boatu |
| Bicycle | baiskalu |
| Bank | benku |
| Left / Right | vaaiy/kanaaiy |
| Water | fen |
| Tea / Coffee | sai/kofee |
| Drink | Bouiné |
| Eat | Kani |
These simple words will help you to be understood in all the atolls. Nevertheless, no worries if you don’t become fluent in Dhivehi before your trip! A large part also speaks English of the population with the exception of a few very remote provinces where, in any case, there are very few tourists.
Last little tip : Don’t forget to roll the “R”s !
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YOGA
Yoga complements surfing in many ways. It strengthens three main skills any beginner surfer should aim to develop in the medium run; Upper body strength, Endurance, and Flexibility.
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The spacious Surf and Yoga camp is located just off the main road in Mirissa and stretches into the beautiful jungle surroundings.