Here is a song by the Hofschneider Brothers that has been a recent favorite of mine, and since our Saturday evening praktika was cancelled this past weekend I decided to sit down and transcribe this song for my own practice. We actually got to meet Siñot Julian a couple of months ago at a fundraiser, which was so lovely. He was playing music with the band, and I kept looking at him and wondering why he looked so familiar. When we started chatting, I realized he was from the Hofschneider Brothers, and I was recognizing his face from the cover of their Christmas album. 🙂 This song is from another of their albums, Rekuetdon Familia…(Putfin!). As always, Chamorro lyrics and an English translation are included in this post. I did have some trouble making out a couple of words, which are in bold. If you hear something different from me, please let me know in the comments. Happy listening!
Continue reading “I Flores Gi Hatdin-hu by The Hofschneider Brothers – Chamorro Lyrics and English Translation”Year: 2024
Kosraean Story: The Snake Queen
This week we will be reading a story from Kosrae, which we found in the KPV Collection and was translated into Chamorro by Dolores Marciano. This story is set on Lellu or Lelu, which is home to an ancient city built from coral and basalt and was ruled by a monarchy – how awe-inspiring! The Chamorro text, a Chamorro audio narration by Jay Che’le, and an English translation is included in this post. Happy reading!
Gaige Gi Fi’on-mu by JJ Concepcion – Chamorro Lyrics and English Translation
This past Saturday Jay started his evening practice group again, and it was just three of us – we forgot to send out a reminder until we were already in the room! A newer learner who just started on their learning journey at the end of last year joined, so we had her listen to and transcribe the song Kirida by Joe Garrido. And she did such a great job! It has been really cool to see her push herself in her learning, and to see her progress over these last few months. 🙂 Since I already put that song on my blog, my new song for this week is Gaige gi fi’on-mu by JJ Concepcion. It’s sung at an easy pace and is a good song for beginners. This post includes the Chamorro lyrics and an English translation. Happy listening!
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Saying “My, Yours, Hers” – An Introduction to Possessive Pronouns in Chamorro
This lesson is part of the Beginner Chamorro learning path.
In this lesson, we’ll start using possessive pronouns in Chamorro — the little words that show something belongs to someone. Using them can change how certain words sound, so we’ll spend time seeing, hearing, and practicing those sound shifts together.
In my experience, many resources skip over these changes, but they are important for developing our comprehension and speaking. So this post gives you plenty of examples, grouped by pattern, to help you get a clear feel for how these sounds work. You’ll find practice drills with Chamorro audio and English translations for every sentence. Happy studying!
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Palauan Story: The Woman in Ngerehokl
Continuing our theme of reading stories from other Pacific Islands, here is a story from Palau that was translated by Dolores Marciano that we found in the Pacific Languages Collection at UH Manoa. This story reminds us that the relationships nurtured between parents and children are more important than superficial concerns. Jay did his best with the pronunciation of the place names from Palau in the story, so our apologies if they aren’t 100% correct! In this post is the Chamorro text, a Chamorro audio narration by Jay Che’le, and an English translation. Happy reading!