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On demise of indigenous language
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Posted on Aug 12 2004
The gradual death of the indigenous language, especially Chamorro, has its own history. It has nothing to do with ethnic diversity though it’s a convenient scapegoat depicting shallow and hollow local reactions against non-indigenous people.
If my memory serves me right, the last time I was taught Chamorro was in second grade or 1958 and I am honored to salute my former teacher, Mrs. Merced T. Torres, for teaching this pupil his basic written Chamorro. Like any course, instruction is 20 percent, the rest is up to each student.
As we moved through junior and senior high school, there was the silent policy to encourage indigenous students to speak, read and write in English.
The effort was to improve their oral and written English facility before graduation from high school. English lessons began at the third grade or at least that was the case in our school days.
There were penalties imposed solely for purposes of encouraging indigenous students to improve their verbal and written English facility. This quiet policy did superbly well in getting indigenous students to think in English when doing schoolwork. In our quest to do so, Chamorro and Carolinian was placed in the back burner.
The revival of the written and spoken Chamorro begins at home. No amount of federal or local funds would succeed in its revival if it isn’t taught at home. Formal instruction ought to be supplementary in that the best venue to teaching one’s native tongue is at home. It begins, again, with the self. And it should be taught at home with a sense of pride.
The demise of the Chamorro language is similar to Latin. It will eventually disappear with time and only those who speak and write it will benefit by perpetuating the indigenous culture. The issue doesn’t need federal nor local grants to revive it. It begins at home!
John S. DelRosario, Jr.
Koblerville
