Kumision on CHamoru language: "What our ancestors started will not end with us"

We continue our conversation with Kumison I Fino’ CHamoru chair, Dr. Laura Souder, as she stresses the importance of efforts to revitalize and preserve the CHamoru language, and how we are beginning to see the fruits of that labor. 

The United Nations says every two weeks, an indigenous language dies.  And for Guam's native tongue, it was dangerously traversing down that ill-fated path.  Kumisión I Fino’ Chamoru Yan I Fina’nå’guen I Historia Yan I Lina’la’ I Taotao Tåno,’ chair dr. Souder said, “If we were to continue on our trend, just only speaking it among elder folks, then our language was destined to become extinct by the year 2060.”

"Language is the conduit, it's the means through which culture is passed on and culture is communicated. culture is conveyed to future generations. So, without the language, we become quickly disconnected to CHamoru ethos, from our way of being, understanding, making sense of life, our belief system."

But efforts to re-route that destiny are in full-swing, as use of the CHamoru language intergenerationally becomes more widespread with our youth.  “It’s very important that we as a community understand fully all these efforts and support them in every way that we can. It’s very exciting to see, for example, the children at Sinipok, Faneyakan, in DOE, and of course, the children at Hurao; it’s so delightful to hear these little kids speaking to each other and adults," she said.

“It’s such an exciting moment for us as a people as we do what it takes under our generation under our watch, to make sure that what our ancestors started 4,000 years ago, and over 150 generations, will not end with us.”

And during this Mes CHamoru, Kumision kids will be rolling out new features weekly — in addition to the Kumision’s promotion of educational materials, and the launch of a new landing page on its website.  “There are resources for them, and everything we do is free," she said.