Tag: Jay Che'le

A Japanese Tailor

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro StoriesLeave a comment

This is another story from Påle’ Eric Forbes called Si Kurokawa, which was a story from his father’s childhood. We read it over the summer during our morning practice group, and I really liked it because it had some interesting vocabulary, like sigi ha’ adumididi’ and eche’cho’. Påle’s original blog post does not include the audio narration, so I’ve included one here by Jay Che’le. But make sure to check out Påle’s original post for some interesting language and historical notes!

This post includes the Chamorro text, English translation, Chamorro audio narration, and a Quizlet Flashcard deck. Hope you enjoy the story 🙂

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The Whaler Returned

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro StoriesLeave a comment

I will be flying back to the States this week after spending a lovely holiday here on Guam (despite being sick at home for most of it!) and I am already thinking about when we will be able to come back. At this point in our lives, it always feels like we are leaving family behind to be with family somewhere else. But whether we are with family in the Marianas or in the States, it always feels like a homecoming. So in that spirit, here is a heart-warming story by Påle’ Eric Forbes from his book “Estoriåye Yo'” about a whaler returning home to Guam. The narration for this story is done by Jay Che’le, hope you enjoy it!

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Legend: Si Chaifi

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro Legends, Chamorro StoriesLeave a comment

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!

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Latti, Haligi, yan Tåsa

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro StoriesLeave a comment

A big part of my own Chamorro language learning journey has been reading and collecting books and articles about the Mariana Islands. One gorgeous book I recommend reading is “Latte in the Marianas”, which you can purchase from the Guampedia Heritage Gift Shop. The majority of the book is written in English, but there are two essays written in Chamoru with English translations included. This is one of those essays, written by Påle’ Eric Forbes, about the Latte/Latti stone. It can be difficult to find long-form written Chamorro (other than the Bible), so this essay gave our study group some excellent practice. The narration for this is done by Jay Che’le. Listen and enjoy!

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A Love Puzzle

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro StoriesLeave a comment

Here is another delightful story from Påle’ Eric’s book Estoriåye Yo’, which our practice group read a few weeks back. It reminds me of the story The Three Princes and the Princess Nouronnihar from 1,001 Nights, which I’ve always liked since I was a kid, and I enjoyed reading a Chamorro version of this tale. The ending prompted some fun discussion in our group, as we debated (in Chamorro) which brother the woman should pick. So here’s the story, with a narration done by Jay Che’le. Hope you enjoy it!

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