Tag: Jay Che'le

Kotturan Chamoru: I Kostumbren Mannginge’

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro Stories3 Comments

When you were growing up, did you practice the Chamorro custom of respectfully greeting elders by taking their hand and sniffing it? In my family we would just go around giving hugs and kisses to our elders, so when I was introduced to this custom I wasn’t used to it at all! Here is a short story in Chamorro about this custom, written by Carmen C. Blas, from a book about Chamorro customs that I found in the KPV collection (the direct link to the entire PDF can be found under the References for this post). If you would like to learn more about the mannginge’, I have also included a short list of free, online resources for further reading on this Chamorro custom.

This post includes the Chamorro text, an English translation of the story and a Chamorro audio narration by Jay Che’le. Happy reading!

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Legend: The Guam Rail and the Monitor Lizard

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro LegendsLeave a comment

When I was little, this legend was always a favorite of mine and I was very excited on the day I realized I could finally read it in Chamorro. This version in Chamorro is good for beginners because the sentences are short and simple. In this post I’ve transcribed the Chamorro and included the English translation, and the original pdf is also in this post if you prefer to see the illustrations while reading. The narration is done by Jay Che’le. Enjoy!

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Legend: What Made The Fruitbat Have No Friends

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro Legends, Chamorro StoriesLeave a comment

This is a legend I found on Påle’ Eric’s blog about why the fanihi (fruitbat) doesn’t have friends. I enjoyed this legend, and had never heard any story about the fruitbat before reading this one. We used this story during one of our practice sessions, and Jay Che’le recorded the narration because this was one of Påle’s older posts that didn’t have audio. I’ve also included the Chamorro and English in this post for reading along with the audio. Hope you enjoy it!

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Legend: The Story of Alupang Rock on Guam

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro Legends, Chamorro Stories4 Comments

Here is the legend of Alupang Rock, written by Simon Camacho. We have been reading and translating Chamorro stories during one of our practice groups, and we did this one a couple months back. The Chamorro text, a Chamorro audio narration by Jay Che’le, and an English translation are in this post. The original illustrations were done by Rogelio G. Faustino, but I’ve refreshed it with this illustration generated by the Midjourney art AI. Happy reading!

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Kåntan Chamoru: I Yori

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro SongsLeave a comment

On Saturday evenings our practice group has been doing something new. We pick a Chamorro song, listen to it, write down all the lyrics in Chamorro and then translate the song into English. At the end, we all mute ourselves and sing along. This is actually one of the primary methods that my boyfriend used to learn Chamorro when he was in high school – he listened to Chamorro songs over and over, wrote down the lyrics, and then translated them. When he proposed this activity for our evening practice group I was less than thrilled because I prefer stories to music, and listening comprehension is my weakest skill. But damn, this exercise really helps! We’ve been doing this for almost 3 months now, and I can really see an improvement in my listening comprehension. Here are the lyrics and translation we did for “I Yori” by Mike Duenas, which is now one of my favorite Chamorro songs.

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