NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

One of the earliest Chamoru translations of an American pop song I ever did.  I came across it recently while I was searching on some old external hard drives.  It is to the tune of the Coldplay song "Clocks"which came out in 2002.  I remember I had started translating the song, working to come up with some basic lyrics.  I was hindered in my translation by the fact that the title frankly, gi minagahet was weird or sucked in Chamoru.  Clocks, didn't make sense in Chamoru. It may barely make sense in English for the song gi minagahet.  "Reloh siha" mungga yu' nu enao lol.  This was very early in my Chamoru learning journey, I was functionally fluent, but still making mistakes all the time and my Chamoru sounded like it was stiff and dry, straight out of a grammar book, because I lacked the basic organic feeling of being part of a language community.  The ways that emerge sometimes for an individual, a family, a village, a people to build off of the rules. To

I started a website five years ago titled " Fino' Chamoru na Inadaggao " meaning a forum for debating or discussing the Chamorro language. This was initially mean to be a website that would support a series of Chamoru Language Senatorial forums held during the 2010 Guam election. From October 19th - 21st that year, all the Guam Legislature hopefuls were invited to a forum where they would be asked questions in the Chamorro language and be encouraged to respond in the Chamorro language. Now as you might imagine/know, in 2010 and 2015 the overwhelming majority of local politicians, including those who are Chamorro, cannot speak the Chamorro language. Because of this, each participant was given the question ahead of time, so as to allow them time to translate the questions and prepare their answers in either English or Chamorro. Candidate were also allowed to have interpreters on stage with them, sitting behind them in case they had trouble following along or remembering w

For years Peter Onedera's column gi Fino' Chamoru has been my favorite part of the Pacific Daily News. Many Chamorro speakers are critical of the way that Onedera writes in the Chamorro language and the way that he spells, but often times I feel these criticisms have more to do with people feeling inadequate in terms of their ability to read Chamorro or just feeling plain lazy. Ondera's columns can be difficult to read, and many people simply turn their minds off because they don't like the way he spells certain things. Others make their way through it, but don't like the Chamorro he uses because it is different that the way he speaks or the way most people speak. There is some truth to this, but the far greater truth that people don't want to acknowledge is that while we do have thousands of Chamorro speakers out there, we don't have nearly as many Chamorro readers or writers. Even if there are people who are fluent in the language, it doesn't mean that

Next week I'll be starting my Chamorro summer classes, and so those who are on Guam and interested in attending need to get in contact with me to learn the meetings dates and times. I've had these Chamorro classes for four years now, and they are alot of fun for me, and a good way to test out things that I eventually use when I teach Chamorro in a more formal setting. Below is a narrative I put together to shed light on how the classes evolved. ************************* I did not grow up speaking Chamorro. I am what is referred to as a “non-native” Chamorro language speaker. I only learned to speak Chamorro after taking classes at the University of Guam and also convincing my grandparents to speak to me in Chamorro. My experience in learning Chamorro was difficult. While I was supported by some, too many others were not supportive and were very counter-productive in my learning. The Chamorro language has come to the point where it is not quite dead

-->This semester I am teaching Chamorro Language at UOG for the first team ever. I've taught classes for years in the community, but these are my first official college level classes. I am having lots of fun, even though it is alot of work since I am starting from scratch in many ways. Each week I put together my own handouts with vocab lists and grammar lessons. This past week we went through opposites such as "dikike'" and "dangkolu" or "taianao" and "dangge" and also occupations such as the Chamorro words for judge, runner, lover, thief and soldier. Chamorro occupations is an interest mix because it breaks down to certain words that are borrowed from the Spanish, such as "hues" or "peskadot" that means "judge" and "hunter." There are also older Chamorro terms such as "fafalagu" and "a'afulo'" which means "runner" and "wrestler." Then there ar

“Inagofli’e’” Michael Lujan Bevacqua Marianas Variety 3/5/13 This past Sunday the Guahan Coalition for Peace and Justice organized a peace vigil in Tumon, at the memorial site where a terrible attack took place two weeks ago. This vigil was meant to honor those who were killed and those who were hurt in the attack, and also provide a space for members of the community to come together and make sense of what happened. Candles were lit, blessings were offered, a song was sung, a healing circle was formed and some doves were let loose. Although the Guahan Coalition for Peace and Justice organized the event, it would not have been possible without the help of many local organizations and leaders, including a group of JFK high school students, who each contributed something. The vigil was given the name “Inagofli’e’.” This is a word that many people today may not be familiar with, but has a very deep beautiful meaning in Chamorro. The word can be broken d

My Chamorro lessons for the Fall start tomorrow, Friday, August 17, 12 noon at Java Junction in the Agana Shopping Center. The lessons will be for beginners and are free and open to anyone. If you are committed to learning the language and want to be in a supportive environment to learn the rules of grammar and expand your vocabulary, come and join us!

As part of my responsibilities at the First Steward Climate Change Symposium I had to chant and dance at the National Museum of the Native American Indian. Ya-hu kumanta, ya-hu bumaila, lao ti ya-hu umuyu este na dos gi me'nan un linhayan estrangheru siha. These chants were to be performed at certain points during the symposium where different tribes and islander groups would share some cultural expression that is appropriate for the moment. Some said prayers. Some sang and danced. Some shared parts of their histories. These ceremonies were important in breaking up the ice between communities and also breaking up the sometimes very dry format of panels and presentations. The song that people most enjoyed was a chant from Guma' Palu Li'e', today known as I Fanlalai'an. It is titled "Gi Tinituhun" or "In the Beginning." The language is beautiful and more abstract than usual for a Chamorro song, and that is part of the reason that it appeale

For the Twitter account that I just started, I've decided to dedicate it for now to helping teach the informal Chamorro class that I hold every week. The Twitter account is open to anyone to follow should they want, but it's meant to help support the lessons that we learn each week. Everyday I ask a question or make a statement which draws upon the grammar or vocabulary that we learned that week and those learning are meant to respond. For example, in our first lesson we discussed the most basic forms of pronouns in Chamorro, the "Yu'" type pronouns. They go after adjectives, nouns and verbs and make the most basic stative sentences. With the pronouns we learned 15 vocabulary words, primarily nouns and verbs, as well as how you use the question marker "kao," the negative marker "ti" and the intensifiers "gof, gef, ges, sen, mampos" in a sentence. In the week after I tweeted some basic questions such as the following: The follo

I've always thought it very interesting, that of all the things I write about on this blog, the posts which elicit the most comments or negative feedback are one's dealing with the Chamorro language. Its so strange, because I say some pretty negative things about the United States, militarization and have some pretty radical political and social positions compared to most Chamorros, but I don't get much feedback in that direction. Most of it is all related to me mis-using the language, abusing it, not speaking it or spelling it authentically, sabotaging it or perpetuating poor grammar or English-affect Chamorro. Its possible, that I could simply be the worst speaker of Chamorro in the world, and all of these people are angels who are doing the Lord's work in protecting the Chamorro people from my evil damaging influence. Sina, lao hu dududa este. One of the reasons that I think this may be the case, is that unlike issues of history, culture, politics and current even

There is little doubt that this world is presently an unfriendly place for the Chamorro language, since although there is in Guam an acceptance of people's right to speak Chamorro, there is still very little effort to revitalize the language, ensuring its survival and making it the language of general instruction and communication. For school and college age Chamorros who have grown up speaking English only, this environment can be surprisingly impossible and hostile as well, as you seem at times to be pushing against the flow of history, since many who do speak Chamorro seem indifferent to passing it on, don't see any value in passing it on, or would rather spend their team teasing you instead of teaching you. I've compiled below, for those interested in learning Chamorro, a series of basic tips to help you cope with this unfriendly or indifferent environment. But first, let me quote a little bit from the draft philosophy I wrote for Famoksaiyan last year, to stress the i

I received this comment my blog several months ago on my post " State of the Chamorro Language ." The author of the comment " One Hot Chamaole " apparently didn't like my post or my blog and left a rather annoying and useless comment, which she soon removed. I had the chance to read it before she removed however and thought that I would post it here in order to discuss some of the more "undiscussed" issues that the Chamorro language is up against. Her comment as you'll read below was not friendly and not very intelligent either. But, this is something you often find with people who claim to be preserving the Chamorro language, a very clear lack of knowledge about what the language is, how it is being killed, and how it can survive. The usual list of things which are endangering Chamorro language are tv, internet, movies, music, kids who don't want to learn, laziness. All of these things have their roles, however it is incredibly pointless and