Category: Chamorro Stories

Legend: The Story of Sirena

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro Legends, Chamorro Stories2 Comments

This is the legend of Guam’s mermaid, Sirena, written in Chamorro by Dolores I. Marciano from a book I found in the KPV Collection (details below). When I was a kid I used to interpret this story as a warning to children, to always obey our parents. Reading this story again as an adult makes me realize it’s also about parenting. It’s a warning to parents to have a care for the words they use with their children, but also about the pain of letting go of them. We did deep dive on this legend with Ray Barcinas a few weeks back, and his analysis moved us and brought a few of us to tears.

So here is the Chamorro legend of Sirena, with Chamorro text, a Chamorro audio narration, and an English translation. I actually recorded this narration because Jay was in Europe all week for work and things got too busy for him to do the recording. But as soon as he gets back, I’ll have him record his narration and I’ll update the audio. 🙂 Happy reading!

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Legend: How the Young Women of Guam Saved the Island

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro Legends, Chamorro StoriesLeave a comment

Here is a Chamorro legend that tells us why the middle of the island of Guam is so skinny. It is definitely a beloved legend, as it celebrates the intelligence and courage of Chamorro women. This version combines storytelling from two different versions of this legend I found in the KPV Collection in their Education & Culture Content section (sources detailed below). But the majority uses the version from Dolores I. Marciano.

In this post you’ll find the Chamorro text, a Chamorro audio narration by Jay Che’le, an English translation, and a Quizlet flashcard set for learning the affixed words. Happy reading!

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Legend: The Story of the Coconut

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro Legends, Chamorro StoriesLeave a comment

March is Mes Chamoru on Guam, so Biba Mes Chamoru! What do you all have planned for celebrating Chamorro culture and language this March? On this blog, I’m hoping to share some new Chamorro stories, in addition to the weekly stories I post here for our Saturday practice group. For me, this month is all about trying to spark our imaginations in the Chamorro language 🙂

To get us started for Mes Chamoru, here is the Legend of the Coconut, which we will be reading and translating in our morning practice group this Saturday. This post includes the Chamorro text, Chamorro audio narration by Jay Che’le, an English translation, and two Quizlet flashcard decks – one for learning affixed words, and another to learn the phrase chunks. Happy reading!

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Truly Beautiful

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro StoriesLeave a comment

Here’s a short, funny story about a married couple that gave me a really good laugh. Jay also thought it was funny, and when he was recording the narration he had to stop to laugh again because of the ending. This story is from the book “Estoriåye Yo'” by Påle’ Eric Forbes, which is great reading (at least I think so!) if we’re trying to learn Chamorro. Our practice group will be finishing up our reading and translation of “The Old Pirate” this week, but if we have time we will also read and translate this short story.

This post includes the Chamorro text, a Chamorro audio narration by Jay Che’le, the English translation, and a Quizlet flashcard study deck to learn the story in phrase chunks. Happy reading!

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The Old Pirate

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro Stories2 Comments

Here is a fun story about a pirate and his treasure that I found in a book in the KPV Collection (details below). In the original document, this story has the title of “E-5”, in case you are looking for the source material. Since this story is on the longer side, I did not include a Quizlet flashcard deck. But feel free to practice breaking this up into phrase chunks for your own studying.

This post includes the Chamorro text, audio narration in Chamorro, and an English translation. Happy reading!

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