Browsing by Author "Keerthiwansha, N.W.B.S."

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Dubbing: Responses of the Sri Lankan Audience to Dubbing Foreign Movies! TV Series! Cartoons into Sinhalese
(Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Keerthiwansha, N.W.B.S.; Alwis, N.
It is generally believed that dubbing foreign movies into Sinhalese helps to bring the audience closer to enjoy stories that are not very familiar to the Sri Lankan background. It is considered as the most suitable method of translating foreign. language programmes into the audience's language. When dubbing is conducted from one language to another language, several changes may occur. For instance, changes of character names, place names and style oflanguage may occur, while expressions familiar to that particular community may be added to the dubbing to make the programme more appealing to the audience. In addition, language style may change depending on the age of the target audience. However, there are certain individuals who do not prefer Sinhalese dubbed programs. Meanwhile, there are some cases that several individuals prefer the Sinhalese dubbed version of the original programme after watching it, whereas, some individuals still prefer the original version over the Sinhalese dubbed version. Thus, the research in particular, attempts to record the responses to dubbing from the Sri Lankan audience, who have watched both the original version and the Sinhalese dubbed version of the particular programmes. The original and the Sinhalese dubbed versions of several programmes are to be studied and the differences between the two are to be recorded. In addition, a questionnaire is to be distributed to record their attitudes regarding dubbing programs into Sinhalese and the differences they have noted between the original version and the Sinhalese dubbed version. The questionnaire also records their personal preferences along with reasons for their choice. Moreover, the questionnaire focuses on the differences the participants saw when they watched both original and the Sinhalese dubbed version. Several suggestions to improve the quality of dubbing are to be made depending on the responses of the participants. This will allow the dubbing industry to conduct more effective dubbing process to produce Sinhalese dubbed programs which are more appealing to the target audience.
Empowerment and Disempowerment: Sri Lankan English and British English. Attitudes of the Speakers of English as a Second Language in Sri Lanka Regarding Their English Accent
(In: Proceedings of the International Postgraduate Research Conference 2017 (IPRC – 2017), Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2017) Keerthiwansha, N.W.B.S.
English was never just a language for Sri Lankans as it was for Indians, Japanese and Chinese and to a lot of other Asian nations. In Sri Lanka, it presented a far more significant social connotation than a mere linguistic connotation. Even the early teaching of English was targeted at creating British type individuals, who could even speak in British accent. However, the movement of ―Speak English Our Way‖ initiated by the guidance of the previous government intended for a radical shift from the failures of the past and an indigenization, or a Sri Lankanization of English. The program intended the legitimization of ‗Sri Lankan English‘, and the social disempowerment of ‗British English‘, while giving due social recognition for speaking English in Sri Lankan way with Sri Lankan accent and pronunciation. This particular study intends to identify the attitudes of the speakers of English as a second language in Sri Lanka regarding the accent and to assess whether idolizing the British accent has been disempowered. Fifty speakers of English as a second language have been chosen from the Faculty of Humanities to participate in for a questionnaire, which recorded their perception of their accent and British accent, meanwhile five individuals was informally interviewed to gather their perspectives regarding speaking English our way and British accent. The results indicated that 64% are aware of the difference between Sri Lankan and British accents. Meanwhile, 76% are satisfied about their accent, whereas 24% are not. In addition, a vast majority of 84% are watching programs that contain British accent and similarly, a vast majority of 90% admire British accent. Moreover, it was identified that the majority of the individuals who are not satisfied about their accent are the ones who admire and imitate the British accent. However, a minority of the individuals who are satisfied about their accent also admire British accent for its beauty. As far as the comments are concerned, some individuals admire British accent as it represents ―class‖, and several participants prefer to practice British accent because English is originally the language of Great Britain. On the contrary, some individuals are on the firm belief that Sri Lankans should have their own version of English and do not admire British accent due to its sophistication. Thus, it can be concluded that idolizing British accent is still rooted in the society to a considerable extent; however, an attitudinal change of preferring a Sri Lankan identity in English is being developed among the scholars.
Issues Faced by the Third Year Undergraduate Students in Practicing Interpretation for Translation Methods
(Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Keerthiwansha, N.W.B.S.
Interpretation is the process of converting an expression delivered in source language into a comparable meaning in a target language either simultaneously in real time or consecutively when the speaker pauses after completing one or two sentences. "Interpretation" is a compulsory subject unit for the third year undergraduates who are reading translation methods in university of Kelaniya Sri Lanka. The unit is being taught for two semesters and the skill of interpretation is tested by a practical session. It covers Sinhalese to English interpretation and vice versa, and the lecture hours cover the theory components and conduct practice sessions by interpreting the Hansard reports. By this study, it was expected to find out the most prominent issues encountered by the undergraduates practicing interpretation. Therefore, a questionnaire was provided to the third year undergraduates who are currently studying interpretation to make a list of issues according to the responses recorded on the questionnaire. Meanwhile, five undergraduate students studying interpretation were interviewed to record their individual issues and they were given few sentences to interpret to identify the issues they face when interpreting these particular sentences. The results indicated that for many undergraduate students, it is difficult to interpret a long and complex statement with speed, while, some have expressed certain difficulties in interpreting technical words, and several students have mentioned difficulty in memorising complex sentences. Significantly, the different sentence structure between Sinhalese and English has created several confusions when interpreting complex sentences. Moreover, homonyms seem to confuse them when a sentence with the same word with different contextual meanings is given to interpret. As a consequence, students tend to have a lesser interest in choosing interpretation as their career path. Thus, possible suggestions were made for the identified issues to assist the students to practice interpretation more effectively and increase the number of students who are interested in becoming interpreters in the futUre.
A Study on the Attitudes and Issues of the Undergraduates Who have Completed the Compulsory English Course for Humanities Students.
(The Third International Conference on Linguistics in Sri Lanka, ICLSL 2017. Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2017) Keerthiwansha, N.W.B.S.
The compulsory English course is designed to improve the English language knowledge of the undergraduates to assist them to continue their respective courses at the university. However, even after the completion of the course, the majority of the undergraduates show difficulties in basic grammar, academic writing and speaking. Therefore, this particular research is designed to identify the attitudes of the undergraduates who have already completed the compulsory course to make suggestions for further improvements. Twenty-five third year undergraduates were chosen to give a questionnaire to record their attitudes regarding the course before the commencement and after the completion of the course, the remaining language issues they have and their personal opinion regarding the course. Through the data analysis it was found that the course do not have a text book. The majority of 87% have stated that the time duration of 2 hours per week for 15 weeks is not enough for the course. More importantly, when their attitude regarding the course before the commencement of the course is noteworthy because the majority of 83% had expected that the course would solve some of their English language issues and 17% had thought that the course would solve all their English language issues. On the contrary, none of the participants stated that all their issues were solved after completing the course while the majority of 74% have stated that some of their issues were solved and the remaining 16% has stated that none of their issues was solved after the course. In addition, writing skills were not improved and the time allocation for listening and speaking was quite low. Majority of 63% has specifically stated that the focus on improving speaking skills was inadequate, which was the most critical language skill for the undergraduates. Thus, designing a textbook to cover all the necessary grammar rules, extending the duration of the course, focusing more on presentation skills, speaking and academic writing can be suggested to improve the quality of the course and to meet the language needs of the undergraduates.
Usage, Attitudes and Issues of Cursive Handwriting faced by Learners using English as a Second Language in University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka
(Department of English, Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Jayasinghe, H.S.; Keerthiwansha, N.W.B.S.; de Alwis, V.N.N.U.; Egodage, W.A.
The research intends to focus on a less researched area and is designed to find the level of usage, the issues and attitudes of cursive writers and non- cursive writers using English as a second language in the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. Moreover, when the history of research in the field of English language is considered, there have been various studies conducted on cursive handwriting on an international level focusing on the level of clarity, performance at examinations, teachers’ attitudes and writing speed. However, a study on cursive handwriting has not been conducted so far in Sri Lanka. Thus this is an initial step for further research. The results of the study prove that cursive writing mainly relies on personal interest and students are not encouraged to learn cursive handwriting at school. In addition, the majority prefers manuscript style in an examination and taking notes in a lecture. Moreover, the majority have stressed on the proper practice and proper format when writing cursive handwriting. Meanwhile, a majority admires the beauty of cursive script and they enjoy reading when they find a properly written piece of cursive writing. Significantly, certain individuals do not measure the intellectual level of the writer through cursive handwriting. Nevertheless, due to the lack of systematic training only a minority uses cursive writing. The number of difficulties faced by the Sri Lankan cursive users is quite high, and the issues identified need to be addressed cautiously for its improvement.