ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Sri Lankan Portuguese creole

Okay, so you know how when people from different places meet and talk, they might use words that are a mix of both languages? Well, that's kind of what Sri Lankan Portuguese Creole is.

A long time ago, around 500 years ago, some Portuguese people came to Sri Lanka, which is an island that's near India. They brought their language with them, which is called Portuguese.

Now, the people living in Sri Lanka didn't speak Portuguese, but they wanted to communicate with the Portuguese people, so they started using some of the Portuguese words and mixing them with their own language. This made a new language called Sri Lankan Portuguese Creole.

It's like if you and your friend spoke different languages, but you still wanted to play together, so you made up your own way of talking that used words from both your languages.

Today, not many people speak Sri Lankan Portuguese Creole anymore, but it's still interesting to learn about how different languages can mix together to make something new.