Visualizing Chamoru
For years I have wanted to learn Chamoru but was overburdened by work, commuting, and sometimes even a social life. With ample alone time during quarantine, I’ve finally been able to spend time studying Chamoru — and, there are more resources available stateside now that so much of the world has transitioned meetings and classes online. Even though it’s new to me, I am surprised how much just hearing my mother speak it as I grew up has primed my brain for absorbing it. I’m having many “aha!” moments as I recognize words she and my family were saying around me growing up, and it made me happy to make my mom laugh when I caught her off guard with new phrases I’ve learned.
Visualizing new vocabulary is an essential tool of language learning. Being a visual artist that is also a language nerd, I have started to incorporate new vocabulary into my artwork and I’ve made a couple visual vocabulary sheets along the way. Follow me on instagram at @_FUUNA_ to see more as I continue my Chamoru learning journey.
babui - pig. The pig was introduced to the Chamoru diet by the Spanish, after they banned traditional seafaring practices, including offshore fishing, to keep our ancestors from escaping. This drawing is based on an image from a babui in Texas, but is the same species that was introduced to Guam.
babuen hålomtano’ - wild pig
fama’kilo - shut up!
“Babuen kuaresma” is a legendary boar that was said to hurt children if they break rules during Lent. One of the rules is not to make loud noise, hence, “fama’kilo!”
I did not grow up with Guam’s Catholic traditions, but I am enjoying learning about our culture through language. Also, I did not save my sources when I first researched babui, but most likely I looked at http://guampedia.com.
Below is an illustrated alphabet. Feel free to save it and print it to help you study!
An illustrated Chamoru alphabet
Here are some online resources that I’ve personally been using to support my Chamoru learning:
Learn at your own pace with online modules at https://www.learningchamoru.com
Follow The Guam Bus on Facebook for announcements of future online classes offered by Dr. Michael Lujan Bevacqua: https://www.facebook.com/theguambus
And for podcasts, videos, and other educational materials, check out https://www.patreon.com/fanachu/posts
Meggai ma’åse for reading!