Languages

New focus on Sami language

Sami people, Finland (virtual.finland.fi)

“Buorre beaivi.” Its “hello” in Sami language and will be more frequent in the public sector in Norway. A new government mandate calls for public servants to learn at least a little of the Sami language.

Location

- All public agencies will be responsible for taking the Sami language into consideration, said Norwegian cabinet minister Bjarne Håkon Hanssen last month. That means an elderly Sami resident of a nursing home, for example, can demand to be understood and communicate in Sami with nursing home staff. All agencies from the tax office to the building codes department should have written information available in Sami as well. - We are two peoples in one country, says Egil Olli, president of the Sami parliament. - It will be very positive for everyone if more people showed some interest in the Sami language, and in that way also showed interest in Sami culture and lifestyles, Olli says to the Norwegian daily Aftenposten. Ole Henrik Magga, one of Olli’s predecessors who led a UN forum on indigenous peoples, agrees. Knowledge of a language is the most imporant entry point to other peoples and cultures, noted Magga, who also is a professor of the Sami language and has followed its development for years.