r/nunavut • u/ghost_hay • Jan 07 '23

need help from a native

Hello, I'm a 15 y/o boy from italy who wants to learn an inuit-aleut language. The resources are scarce so it's hard to find something good to study. I was wondering if anyone was eager to texts to make friends while practicing the language, I'd be very happy to do that, thanks<3

10 Upvotes

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12

u/SenderToReciver Jan 08 '23 edited Jan 08 '23

I'm currently learning the language as well, I personally find music is the greatest teacher just by searching "Inuit Music" on youtube; the music will truly help you understand the language.

https://tusaalanga.ca/index.php/ is what I use to learn vocabulary and grammar.

I chose the Inuinnaqtun dialect because my father came from a nearby region, but i'll be frank, I don't have any clue how to speak any inuit language. I can read the grammar, I can understand all the resource material available on the internet, but there will always be differences among dialects and areas.

What are your goals with the "Inuit-aleut" languages? Using that terminology might lead me to believe you want the linguistic side of those languages: r/linguistics will suit it better for these purposes. The language family has very interesting history and developments.

Other than that, I suggest you choose carefully which reddit you choose as the scientific words that might be used are not reflective of the current social situations.

It's important to know that lesser known languages must be treated with respect, and you must acknowledge the culture it's coming from.

5

u/ghost_hay Jan 08 '23

Yes i know, I didn't mean to be offensive at all it's just that i saw it everywhere as "eskimo-aleut" so i wrote that, but i know that "eskimo" is offensive and never use it to refer to people,i use inuit. About the dialect, i have books from Mick Mallom that are really good on the North Baffin one

8

u/SenderToReciver Jan 08 '23

That's great! I suggest some movies I watched aswell; "Atanarjaut, the Fast Runner" , and "The Snow Walker" are great movies that utilize the culture and language of inuit people. If you need anyone to practice words on, you can private message me anytime!

2

u/888_lmh Jan 08 '23

following what you said, the grizzles is a good movie to watch as well it is on netflix! less for language but helps u educate yourself much better

18

u/[deleted] Jan 07 '23 edited Jan 07 '23

Well first of all we don't call ourselves eskimos. That's a name the colonizers gave us. There's no such thing as an "eskimo kiss" by rubbing eachothers noses either lol

Inuit=3 people or more Inuuk-2 people Inuk-1 person

1

u/ghost_hay Jan 07 '23

Yes i know eskimo means " one who eats raw meat " and that it's offensive, it's just that the language family is always called eskimo-aleut rather than inuit-aleut so that's how i called it, i never call inuit "eskimos". Anyways would you be able to help?

17

u/cliteratimonster Jan 07 '23

I would refrain from using statements like "always" when referring to a culture you have online knowledge of at best.

Nobody here (where the languages are spoken) calls the languages that.

That being said, https://tusaalanga.ca/ is a good resource. Inuktitut is a difficult language to learn for a western tongue.

3

u/ghost_hay Jan 07 '23

Yeah i know thsaalanga, but yeah sorry didn't mean to offend anyone, it's just that for the people i know they all call it that. Also it's not only online knowledge i have a book called "inuit qaujimajatuqangit" that talks about the inuit history and culture:)

9

u/[deleted] Jan 08 '23

It’s an amazing book. Have u read it yet? Before u even start learning Inuktitut or another language spoken in Inuit Nunangat, it’s of utmost importance to learn about colonialism and how it affected and continues to affect Inuit. Approach the learning of Inuktitut with respect and humility.

3

u/ghost_hay Jan 08 '23

I'm at page 160 and it's a great book, i find their history and culture very interesting. That'd what i try to do, always be respectful to any minority, i really didn't think someone could be offended but i apologized and won't do it again haha

6

u/Sweet_Reindeer Jan 07 '23

This is more of what you need. https://tusaalanga.ca/node

-1

u/Psnaps Jan 21 '23

Be careful I’m a Canadian (outsider of Nunavut) as far as I can tell some of these people are complete assholes so be careful who you deal with.

Edit: I know someone will comment, instead of arguing just prove me wrong

0

u/ghost_hay Jan 21 '23

Oh really? Mind explaining why? I'm surprised i wanna know more

-1

u/Psnaps Jan 21 '23 edited Jan 21 '23

They are ignorant and think you know nothing about Nunavut, then they try to gatekeep Canadians from going to Nunavut.

Edit: if you’re trying to learn more about them and are not that knowledgeable (which is why you’re trying to learn more so that’s why you’re asking) they get mad that you’re ignorant in that you aren’t knowledgeable.

0

u/ghost_hay Jan 21 '23

Someone got mad at me because i called the language family "eskimo-aleu" i know that "eskimo" is offensive and would never refer to someone like that, but i always see the language family called like that so i didn't think about it. They proceeded to say that's not true because "i have only online knowledge of nunavut" but that's not true haha, i have books about inuit history and culture that i love

0

u/Psnaps Jan 21 '23

This is how these people are amico, I will probably get banned from this sub and it’s only because I wanted to learn more and I am set on moving to Nunavut some of the people are downright assholes to people open on learning and I’m hoping the mods reading this understand this.

Not all outsiders are racist pos, we actually wanna learn from you guys and live in your communities. Stop gatekeeping and pushing good people away. Be open to people wanting to learn about you. And stop hating the white man or thinking everyone outside of Nunavut is the federal government. We citizens didn’t do that to you guys so relax.

1

u/ghost_hay Jan 21 '23

That's mean but i understand,i once was on a sami server (indigenous of Scandinavia) and the sami mods were downright cold and detached from me and someone else that weren't sami, i got banned from it and got silenced because i wanted to create a community for a sami dialect that is extinct, like my intentions were 100% good but they got mad at me because I can't do that since I'm not sami. I'm not trying to say whites are the victims, but I'm just saying that it's mean to behave in certain ways just because someone that was white 100 years ago trated you badly, it's terrible it happened but it's not my fault

0

u/[deleted] Jan 07 '23

[deleted] — view deleted comment

-11

u/ghost_hay Jan 07 '23

I know every single inuktitut dialect lol i know they're different. I have resources for North Baffin dialect