Chamorro is Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by about 58,000 people mainly in Guam, and also in the Northern Mariana Islands (NMI) and the USA. There are about 30,300 speakers of Chamorro in Guam, where it is a statutory national language, 14,200 in the Northern Mariana Islands, and about 19,800 in the USA.
Chamorro contains many words of Spanish origin and this has lead some to mistakenly believe that it is a Spanish-based Creole.
After control of Guam was taken over by the USA in 1898, English became the language used in education and work places, and Chamorro dictionaries were collected and burned in 1922. During the Japanese occupation of the island, Japanese became the official language. After World War II schools continued to teach in English, and students were punished for speaking Chamorro. As a result, English became the everyday language.
Over time, restrictions on teaching Chamorro language and culture in Guam schools were gradually lifted, especially since 2013, and there are now some schools that teach in Chamorro. There are also some TV shows in Chamorro, as well as online videos, apps and other material in the language.
In the Northern Mariana Islands, Chamorro is still widely spoken and used as an everyday language. The NMI dialect of Chamorro is considered archaic by people from Guam, while the Guam dialect of Chamorro is considered "broken Chamorro" by people from the NMI. The NMI dialect contains some words borrowed from Japanese, while the Guam dialect has more loanwords from Spanish and English.
Chamorro first started to appear in writing in 1668 when a missionary by the name of Father San Vitores devised a spelling system for the language using the Latin alphabet. There are currently minor differences in the spelling systems used for Chamorro in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. For example, in Guam initial digraphs are both capitalized (CH and NG), while in the NMI, only the first is capitalized (Ch and Ng): CHamoru (Guam) vs Chamorro (NMI). There are also differences in the use of some vowels.
Download an alphabet chart for Chamorro (Excel)
Corrections by Wolfram Siegel
Manmåfañågu todu i taotao siha manlibettao yan mamårehu gi diknidåt yan direcho siha, manmånå'i siha nu hinasso yan konsiensia ya debi di u fanafa'maolek.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They
are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Information about Chamorro | Phrases (Guam dialect) | Phrases (North Marianas dialect) | Numbers
Information about Chamorro
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamorro_language
https://www.ethnologue.com/language/cha
http://chamorrolanguage.blogspot.com/
http://finochamoru.blogspot.com
Online Chamorro lessons
https://www.learningchamoru.com/
http://www.chamoru.info/
Chamorro phrases
http://www.chamoru.info/language-lessons/chamorro-words-common-phrases/
https://wikitravel.org/en/Chamorro_phrasebook
http://www.chamoru.info/category/language-lessons/chamorro-phrases/
Online Chamorro dictionaries
http://www.chamoru.info/dictionary
http://chamorrobible.org/chamorro-dictionary1.htm
Chamorro.com - website of the worldwide Chamorro community
http://www.chamorro.com
Alorese, Ambai, Ambel, Anuki, Balinese, Bambam, Batuley, Biak, Bima, Bugis, Chamorro, Duri, Enggano, Fijian, Fordata, Gayo, Iban, Javanese, Kei, Komering, Lamaholot, Lampung, Ledo Kaili, Madurese, Makasarese, Mamasa, Mandar, Mandar, Mbula, Mentawai, Mualang, Musi, Ngaju, Nias, Nuaulu, Ogan, Palauan, Sasak, Selaru, Sumbawa, Sundanese, Toqabaqita, Toraja-Sa'dan, Ulumandaʼ, Wamesa, Yamdena
Languages written with the Latin alphabet
Page last modified: 22.04.25
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