Dr. Untalan discusses ‘Finu’ Chamorro’ in book launching

Book author Dr. Faye Untalan, whose newest book, Finu’ Chamorro for Beginners, had its book launch at the Northern Marianas College last Friday, said she was inspired to write the book when some Chamorros students at the University of Hawaii at Manoa asked her teach them their language when she was still teaching there.

Inspired by that incident, Untalan used a 2013 grant from the Administration for Native Americans to develop a standard curriculum that could be taught in a college-level course and worked with and was guided by Chamorro language instructors.

Out of that came Untalan’s book, Finu’ Chamorro for Beginners, which a thorough and hands-on instructional guide with language exercises for Chamorro language learners of all levels. It is published by the University of Guam Press under its Proa Publications imprint.

The 450-page book offers comprehensive and practical lessons and language drills for those who want to be confident and proficient in speaking the Chamorro language. It has easy-to-follow lesson plans for all ages on pronouns, sentence structure, verbs, vocabulary, and much more.

Untalan said her aim was to develop a textbook for postsecondary education, where college students would have the same curriculum with learning Chamorro. “We had to coordinate and make sure that that’s woven together so it becomes a single process to learn,” she said.

Last week’s book launch also featured a panel discussion on Friday night at the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library. The panel was made up of Leo Pangelinan, director of the Northern Marianas Humanities Council; NMC professor Dr. Barbara Hunter; and educator and Chamorro author Manny Borja. They joined Untalan in discussing the book, and Chamorro culture and language, as the audience asked questions and made comments.

Before the open panel discussion, NMC president Dr. Galvin Deleon Guerrero shared how hard it was for him to learn Chamorro growing up and said that, “you don’t help someone learn something by shaming them. You help them by supporting them, by giving them attention, by being patient with them, and by giving them the resources they need to learn.”

He added that the book is a great resource that can be used to help keep the Chamorro culture alive, as “our culture lives in our language. We cannot let it die.”

Victoria Leon Guerrero, director of Publishing at the University of Guam Press, thanked the UOG Press’ partnership with NMC and Proa Publications, JKPL, and the Northern Marianas Humanities Council.

One question for the panel members was, “Why do you believe it’s essential for language learners to understand the cultural context of Chamorro people and does this have any bearing on learning the language?” Pangelinan’s reply was that, like what Deleon Guerrero had earlier said, “Culture is in the language. It’s very difficult to pick up a language without the context in which you’re trying to use it and have a meaningful exchange with the human beings around you. So, it’s very much important and I think this book does this beautifully.”

Those who wanted to buy the book were able to do so at a discounted price of $45.