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

No one ever fully knows a language, and that is always an interesting way of reminding people that a language is, first and foremost, a social organism. It connects people. It exists to connect and express connections.  But as no one ever fully knows a language, it means that even those who use it everyday are always still learning in the language. There is always more to know, as a language is always belong what a single person can know or do. One way that I have continued to learn and grow in the language is by translating songs from English, regularly into Chamoru. At this point, I've translated hundreds of pop songs, rock songs, hip hop songs, country, punk, alternative, emo, ska, at this point just about any genre you can imagine, I've probably translated at least one song from it, into the Chamoru language.  Sometimes I try to keep the original intention and metaphor of the song, other times I completely abandon it. Sometimes even the tune of the song itself, its flow get

Rlene Santos Steffy published the article below during the summer as part of her iTintaotao Marianas feature series in The Guam Daily Post. I was honored to be included amongst so many other older and more esteemed activist and scholars. I conducted several long interviews with Rlene, some focusing on history and others on political status. I was surprised by her chosen route for this article, focusing on my learning the Chamorro language and my relationship to my grandparents. I was surprised, but not disappointed. The quote that she used at the start of the article is very much what I continue to feel about my Chamorro identity. Namely that if not for my grandparents, I wouldn't have much of a Chamorro identity and probably wouldn't speak Chamorro or care as much about the fate of the Chamorro people. Reading this article made me sen mahålang for my grandparents. I miss them every day, everytime I use the Chamorro language. Kada fumino' Chamorro nina'siente yu'

For several years I have been assisting Siñora Rosa Palomo and Professor Gerhard Schwab who are my colleagues at the University of Guam with the development of an amazing, new, free language learning website built around the learning of the Chamorro language. Humuyongña i na'ån-ña " Learning Chamorro ."  After years of tirelessly working on building the site, it was launched last week. A Pacific Daily News article about it, was picked up by USA Today and shared several thousand times on social media. The website would not be possible without the love labor of GuamWebz and Rhaj Sharma. Some media on the launch can be found below. Sen magof hu na put fin in baba este na website. ********************** Date: March 12, 2017 We take this opportunity to thank everyone of you for registering and continuously visiting our website. All of us together have visited our website more than 1.7 million times. It is your continuous encouragement and support that has kep

2017 Chamorro Language Competition Celebrates Storytelling, Launches New Chamorro Learning Website  Mangilao, Guam: On March 13-14, 2017, the Chamorro Studies Program in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Guam will hold its annual “Inacha’igen Fino’ CHamoru,” or Chamorro language competition.  Each year, hundreds of students from both private and public schools throughout the Marianas gather to compete against each other in categories that test their knowledge of speaking, reading, writing, and singing in the Chamorro language. The theme for this year’s competition is “I Fino’ CHamoru: Ta Hungok, Ta Li’e’, Ta Sångan, Pues Nihi Ta Mantieni!”: "The Chamorro Language: We Hear, We See, We Speak, So Let’s Hold On to It!”  The first day of the competition will take place on Monday, March 13, from 2 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the CLASS Lecture Hall and feature categories for individual contestants. On this day, s

My two PDN columns on the need to protect language learning at UOG. If you aren't familiar with the issue, please head to this website UOG Language Drive , to learn more and sign the petition. If we combine both online and paper signatures, we have collected over 1500 and are still working on getting more! ************************* Protect Language Learning at UOG Michael Lujan Bevacqua Pacific Daily News December 30, 2016 At present at the University of Guam, each undergraduate student is required to take two language classes (eight credits total) as part of their General Education or GE requirements. UOG offers courses regularly for Chamorro, Japanese, Tagalong, Spanish, Mandarin, French and can also offer courses in Chuukese and other Micronesian languages upon request. UOG is also home to the Chamorro Studies Program, of which I am a faculty member and this program is unique in the world in terms of focusing its courses on the history, language and culture of t

Un apå'ka na taotao, i na'ån-ña si Paul Zerzan, sigi ha' umalok gui' gi gasetan Guåhan na esta måtai pat esta taisetbe i Fino' Chamorro. Esta ha na'bububu meggai na taotao guini giya Guåhan yan gi sanlagu lokkue'. Estague diferentes na kåtta ginen i PDN ni' kumokontra i taihinasso na tinige'-ña. ************************ Our Language Isn't Dead Yet by Michael Lujan Bevacqua Pacific Daily News 11/3/16 My column this week is written in response to Paul Zerzan’s op-ed  on Oct. 29 dealing with the death of the Chamorro language. Men with the same complexion and attitudes as Zerzan have long felt it their right to determine the life or death of things related to indigenous people in the Pacific. For Chamorros, these sorts of pronouncements are common. We have been struggling against them for centuries and only recently realized that just because a man with a flag comes to claim us, it doesn’t mean he discovered us. Just because a man

This article, written in 2013 is a surprisingly complete look at issues of language revitalization in Guam today. The discourse on the death of the Chamorro language is common in the media, I myself often resort to using it in order to make a dramatic point. But these articles on the impending demise of the Chamorro language tend to be overly simplistic in a number of different ways. They can focus in very negative ways, by writing one-dimensional laments about the remaining life the language has. They can be cluelessly optimistic, by taking one positive example to mean "hallelujah" the language has been saved! I like this article because it approaches it from different points, from different perspectives and the projects that are being organized in order accomplished the shared goal of language revitalization. It would be interesting though to compare articles of this sort over time, to see how much changes and how much remains the same. If the same valiant individuals ma

Guaha dos patgon-hu siha. Hohoben ha' i dos. Gof ya-hu kumonne' siha para i fanegga'an para bei in egga' i nuebu na mubin famagu'on siha. Taiguihi i meggaina na manhoben, gof yan-niha umegga' i mubin Pixar. Gof ya-hu este na mubi siha, sa' tahdong i mensahi siha, fihu gof gaisiente, yan sesso mafa'tinas maolek i estoria. Ya-hu lokkue' na fihu gof "simple" i na'an-niha, ya ti mappot mapula' gi fino' Chamoru.  Anai hu taitai este na lista gi Facebook ha na'hasso yu' put i na'an-niha este na mubi siha gi fino' Chamoru. Sesso hu usa este na pininala' siha gi klas-hu. Para i estudiante-ku siha, mas ki sesso sahnge i fino' Chamoru para siha. Esta hagas mampayon siha nu i fino' Ingles, ya achokka' i fino' Chamoru i fino' Irensia para siha, ti ma gof tungo', ya kalang fifino' lagu ha' gi pachot-niha yan hinasson-niha.  Ya-hu muna'halom gi klas-hu este na klasin nina'chale

University of Guam Mangilao, GU April 26, 2015 Press Release For immediate release Forum on Changes to UOG General Education Curriculum UOG Professors to Lead Community Discussion on Removal of Second-Language Requirement Is “ENGLISH ONLY” Good Enough for the University of Guam and Our Students? A public discussion on keeping second-language-learning requirements in the University of Guam general education curriculum will be held on Thursday, April 30, at 6 p.m., at the CLASS Lecture Hall on the UOG campus.  The event is free and open to all concerned members of the public. Recently faculty endorsed and approved changes to the General Education curriculum at the University of Guam to remove second-language learning from the undergraduate requirements.  Learning a second language will become optional.  Until now, all students have been required to take two courses (8 credits total) in a language other than English.  Chamorro, Japanese, T