When Jay and I taught our language reclamation workshop at PISACON in March, a young Chamorro said something that stuck with both of us: “It’s like I gotta study Chamorro like it’s O-Chem!” You could hear the exasperation in her voice as she shared what it feels like to learn Chamorro as an adult. Isn’t this something we’re just supposed to naturally “pick up”? And if we’re not picking it up effortlessly, are we doing something wrong?

In this post, I want to talk about why putting in the work to truly learn Chamorro—yes, with intentional study, repetition, notes, pattern drills, practice groups, awkward conversations, or flashcards—is not just valid, but essential for many of us. These tools aren’t shortcuts, and they don’t replace native speakers. But for those of us needing to learn in a very different language reality than the generations before us, they form a critical part of how we move forward to reclaim our language.

Contents
Understanding Our Context: Why We Aren’t Just “Picking it Up” The Critical Role of Effort Work Smarter, Not Harder: How to Maximize Your Efforts Recall Correction  High-Context Learning Pattern Recognition Let’s Normalize This Together Closing Thoughts

Understanding Our Context: Why We Aren’t Just “Picking it Up”

To understand why putting in effort to learn Chamorro is not only okay but necessary, we need to take a closer look at our current language reality. Why is it that we can’t seem to just “pick it up,” the way some fluent speakers encourage us to do? If we heard Chamorro growing up but still can’t speak or understand it—does that mean we are the ones who failed? Let’s unpack these questions.

Previous generations often learned Chamorro through what’s known as natural language transmission. From birth, they were surrounded by the language—spoken to by parents, elders, neighbors, and entire village communities. Over years of daily interaction, they absorbed language patterns, connected those patterns with lived experience, and practiced them through use.

For someone who grew up this way, learning Chamorro might not have felt like learning at all. It was embedded in everyday life. They might not even remember how or when they learned to speak. But that sense of effortlessness was actually the result of years of consistent exposure and support from the people around them.

This difference in experience can create real confusion for us as second language learners. We may be told, “Just immerse yourself in it” or “Just speak it and you’ll get it.” But for many of us, that hasn’t worked—and this leaves many of us feeling ashamed and wondering what’s wrong with us.

The truth is that our language context is fundamentally different. Many of us grew up in English-dominant homes, schools, and communities. Even if we heard Chamorro growing up, that’s not the same as being spoken to in Chamorro—and expected to speak back. Without consistent, meaningful interaction in the language, we may develop a sense of familiarity with its sounds, but not the comprehension or fluency needed for using it.

And for those of us who heard zero Chamorro growing up – or nothing beyond Håfa Adai and the names of some foods on the fiesta table – we may lack familiarity and knowledge of the language entirely.

For those of you who cannot speak or understand Chamorro, please remember: this is the product of your context—not a reflection of your ability, intelligence, or inherent worth. There is nothing wrong with you. What you didn’t receive through natural transmission, you can still build through intentional effort. And that effort—while sometimes hard—is a powerful and valid path forward. 

The Critical Role of Effort

Now that we’ve unpacked how our language context differs from that of earlier generations, let’s talk about why deliberate effort isn’t just valid—it’s necessary for learning Chamorro in adulthood. 

As much as I would love to stand in the middle of the jungle and receive a direct language upload from our ancestors, that’s not how language works – at least not for most of us. Without natural language transmission, we need to build up our knowledge and ability in the language piece by piece. And that’s okay. This is actually how we learn everything in life – whether it’s studying a subject in school, picking up a trade, learning a craft, or earning a professional certificate – we need to put in the effort, consistently, over time. Learning Chamorro is no different.

I know many of us wish we could rewind the clock and grow up in an environment where Chamorro was spoken naturally to us everyday. Growing up, I heard that same sentiment from the generation above me. Many believed learning Chamorro as an adult was impossible. 

But the only impossible thing is changing our past. What we can do is harness what we know about how adult brains learn and use that knowledge to our advantage. Our brains are incredibly capable of acquiring languages – especially when we apply deliberate effort, using modern tools and techniques. And regardless of our learning situation – whether we have no speakers left in our family or we live with native speakers – we can find the right mix of approaches to maximize our efforts and make real progress.

In the next section, we’ll look at practical ways to ensure that the effort we put into learning Chamorro maximizes how our brains best learn in order to make our efforts both productive and sustainable.

Work Smarter, Not Harder: How to Maximize Your Efforts

Now that we’ve discussed why deliberate effort is necessary, let’s take a closer look at how we can maximize our efforts in language learning. As adults, time is often limited, so it’s crucial that we work smarter, not harder, to make every moment count.

From my experience, putting our efforts into activities with recall, correction, high-context learning, and pattern recognition can help us make the most of our time and energy. Let’s break these down, and explore some practical ways to incorporate them into our language learning routine.

Recall

This is all about actively producing language, not just passively absorbing it. In order to internalize Chamorro, we need to practice actively using and recalling words and phrases rather than relying on a dictionary, our notes, or a transcript every time. Usually when learners struggle to produce language, they are spending most of their practice time reading over their notes, rather than practicing active recall.

To do recall-based activities, look at an image and challenge yourself to say what it is in Chamorro. You can also do question and answer drills, where you read or hear a question and then respond to that question in Chamorro. Try pairing the question with an image, to guide your answer. When trying to learn phrases, look at the English phrase and challenge yourself to say it in Chamorro. If working with sound, challenge yourself to hear the word in Chamorro and comprehend its meaning.

Flashcards are a great tool for this because they encourage you to recall words and phrases from memory. But you can also create other tools that provide similar benefits, such as presentation slides, worksheets, etc. Get creative with it!

Correction 

A key part of learning Chamorro is getting corrections and feedback. Without it, we can go months—or even years—saying things incorrectly or misunderstanding what we hear. That’s why correction is so valuable: it helps us catch errors early and adjust our understanding before habits get too deeply set.

When we receive instant correction or feedback as we practice, our study time becomes much more effective. We can quickly spot weak areas and focus our efforts where they’re needed most.

Flashcards are great for this, especially when you self-test and check your answers. But you can also self-correct when doing listening or reading comprehension, and while working with sentence patterns. The key is to use materials that give you both the Chamorro sentence and the English translation—so you can compare, analyze, and adjust as needed.

High-Context Learning

The more context we give to our learning experiences, the more likely they are to stick. When language is tied to something visual, auditory, emotional, or personally meaningful, our brains are more likely to retain it.

Whenever possible, use Chamorro in your real life. Point to objects around you and name them. Describe what you’re doing or what’s happening around you—in Chamorro. Talking to yourself might feel silly at first, but it’s a powerful way to build fluency.

If you’re making your own learning materials, make sure to use images whenever possible—or better yet, use images that are meaningful to you. Personal photos, screenshots, or scenes from your daily life work great.

And of course, try to use the language with others. If you can’t connect in person, start with short text messages, voice notes or videos. As you grow more confident, make them longer, and where possible prioritize actually speaking and listening. Try to join practice groups where you can practice real-time, spontaneous conversation in the language.

Pattern Recognition

Finally, one of the most powerful ways to build conversational fluidity is by focusing on patterns. Instead of trying to memorize grammar rules, concentrate on producing common phrase structures, sentence chunks and situational phrases. These patterns act like building blocks for communication and help you internalize how the language works.

For example, try practicing sentence starters like:

• Para bai hu… (I will…)
• Ti siña hu… (I can’t…)
• Kao malago’ hao…? (Do you want…?)

When learning a new word, don’t just memorize its dictionary definition—use it in a sentence. Better yet, try repeating that sentence with small changes to build your comfort with the structure. Ideally, only change 1 thing between each sentence. For instance:

• Mamåhan yu’ guihan. (I bought a fish.)
• Mamåhan yu’ kafé. (I bought coffee.)
• Mamåhan yu’ magågu. (I bought some clothes.)
• Mamåhan yu’ lepblu. (I bought a book.)

This kind of focused, repeated practice helps your brain pick up on patterns, making them easier to remember and apply in real conversations.

Let’s Normalize This Together

Learning Chamorro as an adult takes time, effort, commitment, and creativity. This should be something to be proud of, because we are choosing to do the hard work of learning and using our language – with whatever tools and resources that work best for us. And we are doing this in a world that has not made it easy.

Learning Chamorro in adulthood is difficult for most of us, and that’s okay. We can talk openly about this difficulty, what works for us and what doesn’t, the effort we invest, the tools we use, the victories we celebrate, and where we still struggle. Let’s encourage each other for showing up to a study group, for asking questions when we don’t understand, for practicing a sentence over and over until it sticks, or for taking a step back when we need space. This is what learning and reclaiming Chamorro looks like for many of us, so let’s normalize it.

And it’s okay if previous generations or other speakers think that what we are doing is silly or even the “wrong way” to learn Chamorro. Remember that we are trying to learn Chamorro in a different world than the one in which they learned it (or didn’t 😉). We are trying to learn this language while facing decline in speakership and huge resource gaps for adults. Our context is different, so it’s okay that our approaches are different too.

So whether you’re drilling flashcards, struggling through a phone call with your grandparent, mustering up the courage to participate in a practice group, or talking to yourself in Chamorro in the car – keep going. 

Closing Thoughts

In this post we explored why it is okay to put in real effort toward learning Chamorro. Becoming conversational or even fluent in adulthood is rarely a spontaneous process. Instead, it is usually the result of consistent, deliberate effort over time. Here are the highlights of this post:

• Previous generations learned Chamorro from natural language transmission. This difference in experience often leads to confusion between generations about why we cannot easily learn the language.
• Being unable to speak or understand Chamorro is the product of our context, not a reflection of our ability, intelligence, or inherent worth.
• While we cannot change the past, we can harness modern tools and deliberate strategies to build our language capability over time.
• Activities that prioritize recall, correction, high-context experiences and pattern recognition can help us make the most of our limited study time.
• Learning Chamorro in adulthood is still very difficult and requires effort. Let’s normalize this narrative, talk openly about it, and be proud of everything we are doing to learn – even if previous generations and other speakers don’t always understand or agree with our methods.