Get to Know the Kalaallisut language of Greenland
The Kalaallisut language (West Greenlandic) is a dialect of the Greenlandic language - which is part of the Inuit-Yupik-Unangan language family.
The other dialects are Tunumiit oraasiat (East Greenlandic) and Avanersuarmiutut (North Greenlandic), which is also known as Inuktun. Standard Greenlandic is based on the Kalaallisut language, and is spoken by the Kalaallit, Tunumiit, and Inughuit. It is spoken by around 57,000 people.
The Tunumiit also speak their own dialect - Tunumiit oraasiat - whilst the Inughuit also speak Inuktun, with around 1,000 speakers in the north of Greenland. Inuktun is a dialect between Greenlandic and the Inuktitut language spoken in northern Canada.
Why learn the Kalaallisut language?
Cover Image
Photo by Visit Greenland on Unsplash
Map
By Fobos92 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32467030
Resources for learning the Kalaallisut language
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Websites and Courses
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Videos
Your first words in the Greenlandic language
Introduction to Greenlandic language
Different Dialects of Greenlandic
I speak Greenlandic in this episode - [English Subtitles]
Five Greenlandic words you should know
Wikitongues : Mark speaking Greenlandic
Greenlandic names and their meanings
Story Behind the Book : Harry Potter in Greenlandic
Kalaallit - Music from Greenland (Playlist)
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Books
West Greenlandic : An Essential Grammar
by Lily Kahn and Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi
An Introduction to West Greenlandic
by Stian L. Lybech
The Crooning Wind : Three Greenlandic Poets
translated by David R. Slavitt and Nive Grønkjaer
Ataqqinartuaraq (The Little Prince in Kalaallisut)
by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
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Podcasts
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