Maldives

Study

Language

The language of the Maldives is Divehi, also commonly written as ‘Dhivehi’. It is related to an ancient form of Sinhala, a Sri Lankan language, but also contains some Arabic, Hindi and English words. On top of all this, there are several different dialects throughout the country.

English is widely spoken in Male’, in the resorts, and by educated people throughout the country. English is also spoken on Addu, the southernmost atoll, where the British employed many of the islanders on the air base for 20 years. On other islands, especially outside the tourism zone, you’d be very lucky to find an adult who speaks anything other than Divehi.

Divehi has its own script, Thaana, which was introduced by the great Maldivian hero Thakurufaanu after he tossed out the Portuguese in the 16th century. Thaana looks like shorthand, has 24 letters in its alphabet and is read from right to left (their front page is our back page).

The Romanised transliteration of the language is a potpourri of phonetic approximations, and words can be spelt in a variety of ways. This is most obvious in Maldivian place names. For example: Majeedi Magu is also spelt Majidi, Majeedhee and Majeedee; Hithadhoo also becomes Hithadhu and Hitadhu; and Fuamulak can be Fua Mulaku, Foahmmulah or, thanks to one 19th-century mariner, Phoowa Moloku.

To add to the confusion, several islands have the same name (there are six called Viligili), and there are names for the 20 administrative atolls that do not coincide with the names used for the Maldives’ 25 natural atolls.

There is no officially correct, or even consistent, spelling of Divehi words in official English language publications.

Maldivians are pleased to help you learn a few phrases of Divehi, and, even if you only learn a few words, the locals you meet will be very appreciative of your interest.

The best phrasebook available is Practical Divehi by M Zuhair (Novelty Press, Male’, 1991). It’s available from the Novelty Bookshop in Male’ and in a number of the resort shops.

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Courses

Diving courses are a particular attraction for travellers to the Maldives. The standard learn-to-dive course is an open-water certificate, but the bigger dive centres offer a host of advanced and speciality courses, including advanced open water, dive­master, night diving and so on.

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