Kottura: I Taotaomo’na

Our Saturday morning practice group will finish reading and translating The Dolphin and the Two Children this week, so the new story for this week is a bit shorter. It’s from a book written by Carmen C. Blas about different Chamorro cultural beliefs and practices, which I found in the KPV Collection. This short piece discusses beliefs about the taotaomo’na, or ancestral spirits. The Chamorro text, an English translation, and a Chamorro audio narration by Jay Che’le is included in this post. Happy reading!

The Dolphin and the Two Children

Here is a cute story about how two children befriend a dolphin, written by Dolores Marciano. This post includes the Chamorro text, an audio narration in Chamorro by Jay Che’le, and an English translation. Happy reading!

The Wind And The Sun

Here is a story of competition between the wind and the sun from Aesop’s Fables, translated into Chamorro by Rita Inos. It was found in a draft manuscript among other translated works in the Pacific Area Languages Materials collection from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

In this post I’ve included the Chamorro text, an English translation, and a Chamorro audio narration by Jay Che’le. Happy reading!

Learning to Scuba Dive

Here is a narrative about the writer’s experience of learning how to scuba dive, which I found in a workbook in the KPV Collection (details below). In this post I’ve included the Chamorro text, an English translation, and a Chamorro audio narration by Jay Che’le. Happy reading!

The Beautiful Mango

This Saturday our practice group will finish reading and translating Si Kanåriu Yan Si Chungi’, so the new story for this week is a short one, about what can happen when we don’t ask for permission before collecting from the jungle. One of our aunties who regularly attends our practice group very kindly gifted me more Chamorro stories, and this is one of them. This post includes the Chamorro text, a Chamorro audio narration by Jay Che’le, and an English translation. Happy reading!

The Canary and The Chungi’

Here is a charming tale of friendship between the canary and the chungi’, which in English is known as the white tern. I’m excited for our Saturday practice group to read this story because it really made me smile, and it reads like a happy folktale telling us how the two birds became friends. This story is from the book Istreyas Mariånas: Chamorro, written by Joaquin Flores Borja, Manuel Flores Borja, and Sandra Chung. Physical copies may be scarce, but thankfully we are able to access a digital copy on the Inetnun Kutturan Natibun Marianas website.

This post includes the Chamorro text, a Chamorro audio narration by Jay Che’le, and an English translation. Please also note that this story follows the CNMI orthography. I have also added stress marks to some words, to make it easier for learners to see the stress placement. Happy reading!