Sami speech
In northern Norway, a large proportion of the population speaks the same language, belonging to the group of Finno-Ugric languages. It is related to the Samoedic language (one of the northern Russian dialects), Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian.
In Norway, Sam is spoken by approx. 20 000 people (as well as the population groups in Finland, Sweden and Russia). Although most of them can also communicate in Norwegian (and some even speak English), tourists, who know at least a few words in the local language, they will have easier access to this unique culture.
There are three distinct Sami dialects in Norway – fell sami, also called eastern and northern themselves, middle themselves and south themselves. Overall, ten different dialects are spoken in the land of Sapmi: fell sami, ume, pite, kola, flower, inari, ruiija, skolt, kildin i ter. Fell themselves is considered standard Samo.