Laura Pia Churchill was raised in Kangiqtugaapik, also known as Clyde River, Nunavut. Since Inuktitut was the primary language spoken in her home and in the community, she remembers only starting to learn English at school when she was eight years old. Laura grew up close to her grandparents who only spoke Inuktitut, spending lots of time on the land with them and learning how to hunt and sew. Laura is passionate about her culture and language and wants to help people learn.

Stephen Frampton lives in Igloolik where he has been steadily learning Inuktitut from what resources he could find, the community generally, and one Elder specifically. He is very grateful for all their work and patience that have allowed to him to generally understand and communicate in Inuktitut. Though fluent higher level conversation of more abstract concepts still eludes him, he’s working on it.

A teacher by profession, he has dedicated time to learning how to learn Inuktitut, which he hopes will be effective for others. Stephen’s not an inuktitut expert, but he knows the journey that you’re contemplating now. If you have questions or are confused about something, chances are Stephen’s been there.  

He hopes his experience as a fellow learner and commitment to understanding how Inuktitut is learned most effectively can be useful as we all try to improve at possibly the coolest langauge on earth. It’s worth it.