This is another story from Påle’ Eric Forbes called Si Kurokawa, which was a story from his father’s childhood. We read it over the summer during our morning practice group, and I really liked it because it had some interesting vocabulary, like sigi ha’ adumididi’ and eche’cho’. Påle’s original blog post does not include the audio narration, so I’ve included one here by Jay Che’le. But make sure to check out Påle’s original post for some interesting language and historical notes!

This post includes the Chamorro text, English translation, Chamorro audio narration, and a Quizlet Flashcard deck. Hope you enjoy the story 🙂

Si Kurokawa

Tinige’ as Påle’ Eric Forbes

Annai på’go manhålom i Hapones giya Guam ma sodda’ na siña si tatå-hu fumino’ Hapones. Ti gef mefno’ gue’ gi fino’ Hapones lao hunggan maolek gue’ fumino’ Hapones. Kontodo i intetprete na Chamorro ni ginen Saipan ilek-ña as tatå-hu na maolek gue’ gi fino’ Hapones. Taiguini estoriå-ña si tatå-hu:

Popble familiå-na. Bula famagu’on. Ocho siha na mañe’lu. Un diha, ilek-ña si tatan-ñiha, “Annai esta un kumple dosse åños, debidi un fanaligao che’cho’-mu.” Pues pot i esta ha kumple dosse åños años-ña si tatå-hu, ha a’atan maolek esta månu nai siña gue’ mañodda’ che’cho’-ña. 

Guaha un Hapones, na’ån-ña si Kurokawa, na såstre. Ma bababa ha’ i gimå’-ña ya ha fåfåna’ i chalan nai matå’chong si Kurokawa gi tatten i måkinan manlåkse. Pues katna kada diha tumótohge si tatå-hu guihi gi me’nan potta ya sigi ha’ adumiddide’ ha håtme i gima’ Kurokawa ya umimbilikero gue’. 

Ilek-ña si Kurokawa, “Håfa na sesso hao mågi para un atan todo håfa bidådå-hu?” 

Pues sinangåne as tatå-hu na ume’eche’cho’. Konfotme si Kurokawa fumanå’gue si tatå-hu manlåkse. Lao, fuera di ennao, ha hokka’ si tatå-hu i fino’ Hapones sa’, maseha siña si Kurokawa fumino’ Chamorro, lao ya-ña lokkue’ kumuentos gi lengguahi-ña.

Kurokawa

Written by Father Eric Forbes

When the Japanese first came to Guam they discovered that my father could speak Japanese. He wasn’t very fluent in the Japanese language but yes he was good in speaking Japanese. Even the Chamorro interpreter from Saipan told my father that he was good in the Japanese language. My dad’s story goes like this:

His family was poor. There were many children. There were eight siblings. One day, their father said, “When you reach 12 years, you should look for work.” So, because my dad already reached the age of 12 years, he already looked well where he could find a job. 

There was a Japanese, his name was Kurokawa, who has a tailor. His house was open and it faced the street where Kurokawa sat behind the sewing machine. So almost every day my dad would stand there in front of the door and little by little he entered Kurokawa’s house and nosily looked around. 

Kurokawa said, “Why do you come here often to look at everything I am doing?” 

So my dad told him he was looking for work. Kurokawa was willing to teach my dad how to sew. But, besides that, my dad picked up the Japanese language because, even though Kurokawa could speak Chamorro, but he also liked to speak in his own language.

Quizlet Study Resource

Here’s a link to the Quizlet flashcard deck I made that breaks the story into phrase chunks: Si Kurokawa