Language

The Greenlandic language belongs to the Inuit family of languages. Each word can convey the meaning of an entire sentence.

WHOLE SENTENCES IN A SINGLE WORD

Greenlandic belongs to the Inuit family of languages. It is a ‘polysynthetic’ language, which means that words are formed with a root, one or more affixes and a suffix.
A Greenlandic word can thus be very long and can mean what corresponds to a whole sentence in other languages.

"Greenlandic belongs to the Inuit family of languages."

Package Tours

Arctic Umiaq Line: Discover Greenland from the sea

Arctic Umiaq Line

Discover Greenland from the sea

The coastal ship Sarfaq Ittuk sails from southern Greenland up along Greenland’s west coast to Disko Bay.

Blue Ice Explorer: Plan your own holiday in Greenland

Blue Ice Explorer

Plan your own holiday in South Greenland

Are you dreaming and going to South Greenland and would you prefer to plan your own trip?

Greenland by Topas

Dog Sledding and Northern Lights in Ilulissat

Sled dogs are in their element under the frosty sky, crackling snow and fluttering Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) of the Greenlandic winter. Overnight stay in Igloo Lodge.

Tasermiut Expeditions: Hiking and Kayaking Adventure

Tasermiut Expeditions

Hiking and Kayaking Adventure

8 days trip, kayaking and on foot: complete contact with nature, kayaking and hiking activities, discover Viking ruins in South Greenland.

DIFFERENT DIALECTS

The Greenlandic language is roughly divided into four dialects: South Greenlandic, West Greenlandic, East Greenlandic and the Thule dialect. West Greenlandic is the official language which all children learn in addition to Danish and English.

In small towns and settlements it is not unusual for only Greenlandic to be spoken and English may possibly be understood or spoken only to a very limited degree.

It is therefore a good idea to learn a few words during your trip that can open up for communication.

GREENLANDIC LOAN WORDS

Greenlanders are always delighted when visitors try to speak at least a few words of the local language. To make it easy, you can start by learning the words “hello”, which is called “aluu”, or “goodbye”, which is simply “baaj” – and thus are reminiscent of English.

These words are loan words that were probably introduced when the Americans came to Greenland during the Second World War.

A DESCRIPTIVE LANGUAGE

As is the case for all languages, Greenlandic continues to evolve, and when loan words are not used, new, highly descriptive words are created.

The word ‘computer’ is ‘qarasaasiaq’ in Greenlandic, which directly translated means ‘artificial brain’, whilst ‘potato’ is called ‘naatsiiat’ – which actually means ‘something for which one waits for a long time to grow up’.

The written language and pronunciation are something else again and can be read about in several of the books on the Greenlandic language that are available on the Internet.

By Visit Greenland

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https://visitgreenland.com

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