Mildred Joanna Galliheri age 11. Tucson AZ

What language do the Eskimos speak?

The Eskimos have a language all their owns.  It is thought that they brought it with them from the region of Siberia. These people became far scattered across the top of the world. Yet all of them could understand the Eskimo language. Some were able to write it in picture words.

The spoken language sounds deep and gruff. An Eskimo may know about 100,000 words. But he can give different meanings to each of them by changing the pitch and inflection of his voice.

Eskimos picked up some European words from the Scandanavians, Dutch, English and French traders.  This hodgepodge language is often mistaken for Eskimo which it is not.

Nowadays  the Eskimo language is written with a kind of shorthand. Each sign stands for a syllable. Schools are few and far apart. But many Eskimo children are learning true Eskimo and English side by side.