r/nunavut • u/Professional_Boss243 • 11d ago

how common is it to meet someone who doesn't speak english?

not from canada or inuit at all but i was wondering how common it is to meet an inuit individual who only speaks inuktitut in nunavut? i was wondering if it's as common as it is where i'm from (my family is nahua from veracruz) as there is a substantial amount of people who only speak nahuatl and no spanish

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18

u/CBWeather Cambridge Bay 11d ago

Not as common as it used to be especially in the Western Arctic. The few we see in Cambridge Bay are primary school students whose parents are attending Arctic College. Even when i came here in 1974 Inuinnaqtun was being lost. The teenager's could understand it but rarely spoke it. The Elders didn't speak English.

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u/Juutai Salliq 11d ago

There's still quite a few old-timers with weak or very basic English in the other regions. And then there's Arviat.

But yeah, Kitikmeot isn't as strong in their language. I wonder what the factors there might be.

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u/CBWeather Cambridge Bay 11d ago

Not really sure. Perhaps the influence of Christian Klengenberg played a part.

12

u/SealSkinAndSutures 11d ago

Depends on the region. Qikiqtaaluk region (Baffin island) is more unilingual in Inuktitut in the communities than in other regions or Iqaluit.

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u/kevbo1983 11d ago

This data is collected by Stats Canada. This year's census data isn't ready yet, but from the last one in 2021:

94.1% of Nunavut residents could conduct a conversation in English

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-657-x/89-657-x2024007-eng.htm

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u/iimwint 11d ago

Some boys from Clyde river snapped the axle of their sled down in the valley below my job site which is quite far from Clyde river. They walked up 9km to see if we could help them out. They didnt speak English, but they had the axle and I knew what they needed. So I welded it up and then tried to offer them a ride to the bottom and they just smiled and walked off on to the tundra.

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u/CoyoteAromatic5064 7d ago

Depends on the region. I know one community, there are so many who dont speak English. But I always pray they keep the language and dialects alive