I’ve been trawling the internet again in search of Chamorro stories, and I found this story from a collection that was published in Luta in 1976 (details below). In this story we learn why in Luta, sewing at nighttime is considered a bad thing to do.
This post includes the Chamorro text, an English translation, Chamorro audio narration, and two Quizlet flashcard study decks. The is narration is done by Jay Che’le, hope you enjoy it!
Here is another Chamorro legend about how the breadfruit tree came to be on Guam. I got it from the Legends book that I found on the KPV collection which has a great collection of legends all written in Chamorro. In this post I’ve included the Chamorro, an English translation, an audio narration, and a Quizlet flashcard deck. The narration for this story is done by Jay Che’le, hope you enjoy it!
This is another Chamorro legend that I never heard about until I started learning Chamorro, which is the legend of Chaifi, the god of fire or the underworld. This is the version written by Georg Fritz, who was a German colonial official of the Northern Mariana Islands starting in 1899. I have a transcription of the Chamorro as it was written by Georg Fritz (with updated spelling) and an English translation in this post, but you can also access it in a pdf from a Digital Library Project compiled and maintained by Dirk Spennemann. There is also a paper by Steve Pagel that dives into the more linguistic aspects of the language, and includes a line-by-line translation of the legend across all three languages (English, German, and Chamorro). The narration for this story is done by Jay Che’le. Hope you enjoy it!
In our evening practice group, I’ve been pushing Jay to include more songs from Daniel DeLeon Guerrero because his use of the language is fun and deep, the storytelling is always enjoyable, and I’m always guaranteed to pick up new words or phrases. I can’t count the number of times I learn a new word (to me) in Chamorro, only for Jay to say, “Oh, I’ve heard that word used in a song.” And it’s usually a song by Daniel DeLeon Guerrero! So here are Chamorro lyrics and an English translation for the song “Åchu’ Natibu” by Daniel DeLeon Guerrero, which is a song about Åchu’ Fouha that includes Chaifi (god of fire). Hope you enjoy it!
Continue reading “Kåntan Chamoru: Åchu’ Natibu”
One of the most gratifying things about learning Chamorro is discovering new stories in the language that I have never heard before. The story about the Kakkak, or the Yellow Bittern, is a story that I never heard growing up. I found this version in a legends book from the KPV Collection that was collected and translated by Carmen C. Blas. This narration is done by Jay Che’le, listen and enjoy!
Lengguahi-ta 