Home - Ságastallamin

About this website

This website is the online version of the traveling multi-media exhibition “Ságastallamin – Telling the story of Arctic Indigenous languages”.

Language Map

More than 40 Indigenous languages are spoken in the Arctic. View an updated map on linguistic diversity in the region.

The Sámi Languages

The Sámi languages are spoken in Finland, Norway, Sweden and Russia. UNESCO regards all the languages as endangered, but revitalization efforts are taking place in several of them.

Arctic Languages

An introduction to the Indigenous languages spoken in the Arctic

Group of Indigenous youth posing happily.

01 Ságastallamin – Telling the story of Arctic Indigenous languages

Ságastallamin comes from North Sámi, and it means having a conversation. This exhibition tells the story of the Indigenous languages spoken in the Arctic region, their past, present, and hope for revitalization in the future.

Dancers in traditional dress on stage at United Nations event.

02 UN International Year of Indigenous Languages

The 2019 United Nation’s International Year of Indigenous Languages is an important event to raise awareness about the diversity of Indigenous languages spoken around the world

Landscape photo from Greenland with house in foreground and mountain in background.

03 Arctic Indigenous Peoples’ languages

There is a great diversity of Arctic Indigenous Peoples’ languages, but historical and present-day marginalization has threatened many languages’ vitality. Today, Indigenous Peoples around the circumpolar Arctic are working to teach and revitalize their languages.

04 Language – the key to knowledge and well-being

Indigenous languages support traditional livelihoods and life ways that contribute to Indigenous Peoples’ health, cultural vitality and overall well-being.

Graphic showing the 9 factors UNESCO uses to determine language vitality.

05 The vitality of Arctic Indigenous languages today

Arctic Indigenous languages vary in levels of vitality. Some Arctic Indigenous languages are withering away as their last native speakers age, while others are spoken on the radio and taught at universities.

Three Indigenous peoples representatives taking part in a political debate.

06 Empowerment leads to revitalization

All language rights today are the result of Indigenous communities’ hard work to sustain their languages, cultures, and identities. As the world begins to recognize the importance of Indigenous languages, opportunities for language revitalization are becoming a reality.

Language Revitalization

Practical examples of language revitalization taking place around the circumpolar Arctic

Selection of language teaching booklets for Inuvialuit.

Inuvialuit Cultural Centre Pitquhiit-Pitqusiit in Inuvik, Canada

Language and teaching resources for Inuvialuit

Group of children and adults singing and drumming with audience of parents.

Ya Ne Dah Ah School in Chickaloon, Alaska

Teaching a sense of identity

Group of dancers wearing traditional Russian Indigenous clothing.

Institute of the Peoples of the North in St. Petersburg, Russia

Almost a century of Indigenous linguistic and cultural studies

Nomadic schools in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia

Education for children on the move

Hands on laptop keyboard with Sámi words on screen.

GiellaLT in Tromsø, Norway

Indigenous language technology for modern society

Group of Sámi University graduates with their diplomas wearing traditional Sámi clothing.

The Sámi University of Applied Sciences in Kautokeino, Norway

High-level education in Sámi, for the Sámi

Close-up of boy building a wooden model.

Urban Unangax culture camp in Anchorage, Alaska

Language learning and cultural activities for the whole family

Young boy using Virtual reality headset while friends watch.

Pinnguaq Association in northern Canada

Online learning tackles long distances and low budgets