the Rosary

Hey guys!

Lately I've been trying to pick apart the Abe Maria in chamorro. I've been saying it for years without knowing what the words mean, or even what they all are. I found this web page with all of the prayers of the rosary -- both in text form and in audio.

Daddy, if you see anything in here that could be improved, please let us know! I know the spelling is often up for debate, and even, sometimes, nuances in the pronunciation.

Well, hasta y'all!

Some Inner Workings

Possessive Suffixes

-na (should be a tilde above the "n" for a "nya" sound), -mu, -hu/ku

i kareta-na his/her car
i kareta-mu your car
i kareta-hu or i familia-ku my car or my family

I don't know the rule for -hu versus -ku. I guess it's usually "-hu" and only sometimes "-ku" but the lesson is they mean the same thing.

Also here are some random useful phrases:

Hayi enao? Who is that?
Si Captain Reynolds este. This is Captain Reynolds.

Mungi i siga? Where is the salt?
Gaigi gi cabinet. It is there in the cabinet. (I heard Bert say this.)

And a line from a J.D. Crutch song:

Estaba hao gi guinifi-hu. You were in my dream. (Were being you in dream-my)

This is fun! Fun, fun, fun!

Return of the Cruz Family Chamoru languange blog

This is an attempt, well over a year since the last one, to renew our interest in learning chamorro. Little by little, we may actually get somewhere.

Daddy found this site, www.chamorroroots.com, that has videos about Guam history and legends. They are narrated in chamorro, but include English subtitles for us mainlanders.

Sinangan Siha Put I Ha'å ni

Maipe na ha'å ni - It's a hot day
Fresko na ha'å ni - It's a cool day
Guaifon na ha'å ni - It's a windy day
Chatha'an na ha'å ni - It's a rainy day
Nopblå du na ha'å ni - It's a cloudy day
Kå tma i ha'å ni - There is no breeze today
Duru hulu yan lålamlam - It's a thunderstorm
Manengheng yu' - I am cold
Fugu yu' - I got the cold chills
Ai na chini'op - Heavy dew condensation is present
Para somnak na ha'å ni - It's going to be a sunny day today
Klå ru na ha'å ni - It's a clear day
Fanhålom sa' i sirenu - Come in because of the evening cold damp air
Motmo na ha'å ni - A cloudy day (it's implied that you mean today will be or is cloudy)
Mamamaila' i hemhom uchan - A heavy rain cloud is coming


Maipe - Hot
Fresko - Cool
Guaifon - Windy
Chatha'an - Rainy
Nupblå du - Cloudy
Kå tma - No breeze
Hulu - Thunder
Lamlam - lightning

I'm posting some basic phrases (as listed on ChamorroLanguage blog) just to start us off:

Welcome - Bienbenidu
Hello - Hafa Adai
How are you? - Hafa tatamanu hao? / Hafa mamaoleka?
I'm fine - Maolek ha yu / Todo maolek
Long time no see - Apmam tiempo ti uli'e hao
(It's a long time since I've seen you)

Apmam tiempo ti uli'e hit
(It's a long time since we've seen each other)

What's your name? - Hayi na'an-mu?
My name is ... - Na'an-hu si...

Where are you from? - Taotao manu hao?
I'm from ... - Taotao ... yu

Pleased to meet you - Ma'gof yu sa umali'i hit
Good morning - Buenos dihas
Good afternoon - Buenos tatdes
Good evening - Buenas noches
Goodbye - Adios
Good luck - Suette!
Cheers/Good health! - Hago lao!
Have a nice day - Puedi ha todo maolek
Bon appetit - Buen prubechu
Bon voyage - Buen biahe
I don't understand - Ti hu kumprende
Please speak more slowly - Pot fabot na despasio i kuentos-mu
Please write it down - Tuge' papa pot fabot
Do you speak Chamorro? - Kao siña hao fumino' Chamorro?
Yes, a little - A'a, didide' ha

How do you say ... in Chamorro?
Hafa taimanu un sangan ... gi fino' Chamorro?

Excuse me/Sorry - Dispensa yu
How much is this? - Kuanto baliña?
Thank you - Si Yu'us ma'ase (lit: God have mercy)
Response (You're welcome) - Buen prubechu

Where's the toilet? - Manu na gaige i kemmon?

Leave me alone!
Sappe! Litira hao! Basta ma estotba yu!

Help! Fire! Stop!
Ayuda! Guafe! Basta!

Call the police!
Agang i polisia!

Fruit of the Web

I thought I might link to some Chamorro language sites to help start us off. There is some great material out there already -- including a blog complete with links to KUAM, recipes, Malafunkshun, and everything else micronesian. We can add to this list as we go along.

www.offisland.com
ns.gov.gu/language
www.chamorro.com
chamorrolanguage.blogspot.com
minagahet.blogspot.com
www.cheluinc.org
www.guampedia.com
www.chamorro.com/kantontasi

Of particular interest is this page at "chamorro.com" that offers .wav files
www.chamorro.com/fino/fino.html

web-based chamoru language learning!

Hey guys,
If you're reading this, hopefully that means I've set this thing up correctly. I know we've all talked on and off about trying to learn Chamoru (or Chamorro -- I still don't know which spelling is best), and it has only gotten more difficult to do as we get older, busier, and further apart.

So I set up this blog for us to use. You can log in and edit the blog if you like -- our community email is tatiyas.n.cheese@gmail.com, password "147deltacircle." It's a private blog so only people who are invited may view it -- hence my invitation to you all. I hope to figure out a way to put the audio files from our language CD up here . . . if anyone has ideas of how better to do this, please share. I suppose a facebook-type page might also work, eh?

Anyway, I thought I'd give this a shot. More to come.

-cinta