"The Sami language" Padjelanta Nationalpark Local Custom Tip by sim1

While looking at your hiking map you might learn a tiny bit of the Sami language. The places are often named after which type of landscape it is. Like tjåhkå, for example, which means mountain top or jávri/jávvre which means lake. By studying the map and knowing a few of these Sami words you get a good picture of what the landscape is going to be like. But it can be a bit confusing though, as there is not just 'one' Sami language. There are many different dialects and even languages, some of these are so different that they won't understand each other. But there is one dialect/language that is spoken by the majority and this is probably the one you'll discover on your hiking map.

A fascinating thing to realize is also how close the Sami language is with their original way of living and everything concerning nature, landscape and the climate of Northern Sweden. The number of words describing these is amazing! There are several hundreds of words for different kinds of reindeer describing the age of the reindeer, colour, body structure or the antlers. In such cases only one Sami word is needed when you have to use whole sentences to explain the same thing in English or Swedish. There is also richness in words concerning different kinds of snow, describing for example the amount of snow, the quality, the surface and how easy it is to travel on the snow.