The Infamous Watch Story gi Fino' Chamoru

For my CM 102 class or Beginners Chamorro Language 2, I've been experimenting with different assignments. I heard last year about a Navajo Star Wars, or the project to translate Star Wars into the Navajo language. For me, somehow who thinks that everything should be translated into Chamorro and is hoping to create a lexicon for playing 'Magic: The Gathering" in Chamorro, taking such an iconic nerdy movie and translating it into a native language is the height of awesome. I decided to incorporate something on a much smaller scale into my class. 

 

Each student had to pick five minutes from a different movie and translate that portion into Chamorro. I told them to make sure that the segment wouldn't be too difficult for them to translate, because certain genres like sci-fi for example, might be a bit difficult for a lowly 102 student to translate effectively. They had to then record themselves or others reading the scene in Chamorro and then dub it into the film itself. Lastly, these scenes were shown to the class. Students picked all sorts of scenes, such as the famous blue and red pill scene from the Matrix, the "Fish are Friends" scene from Finding Nemo, the scene where the girl is first taken in the movie Taken and even Batman's interrogation of The Joke in the Dark Knight. One of my favorite scenes that a student presented, caught me totally off guard, but it was the infamous watch story from the film "Pulp Fiction." Is it the story of how a certain watch survived multiple generations of war and even the not too pleasant way it was kept safe in a prisoner of war camp. 

Here is my student's translation below:


Buenas boi, hu hungok bula put Hagu. Gof ga’chong yu’ yan i tata-mu.

Singko anos ham giya Hanoi giya Vietnam gi duranten i Geran Vietnam.

Puede ti un chagi este na eksperensia. Este dos na taotao yanggen ma chagi i pinadesin-mami!

Anggen Guahu matai, siempre Si Major Coolidge kumuekuentos yan i patgon-hu.

Lao matai i tata-mu ya gaige yu’ guini pa’go nah u kuentutusi hao pa’go ha’ na ora.

Este na relos finahan ni tatan tatan bihu-mu. Ha fahan i relos gi i fine’nina na geran mundo giya Knoxville, Tennessee. Finahan Private Doughboy Ryan Coolidge antes ha dingu Tennessee para Paris. I relos i tatan tata bihu-mu ginen i kompania ni fuma’tinas i primet ilos para i kannai. Antes ma kakatga i relos gi botsa. Lao i bisaguello-mu ha katga este kada diha gi gera.

Esta monhayan i tiempo-na gi gera ya ha bira gui’ tatte para u asagua i bisaguella-mu. Ha laknos i relos ya ha po’lo gi un guntan kafe’. Sumaga’ i relos guihi esta ki ma agang si tatan bihu-mu para i geran Aleman, pa’go ma a’agang i geran mundo mina’dos. I bisaguello-mu ha na’i I tatan bihu-mu ni relos para suette gi karera-na.

Lao ti suette i tatan bihu-mu taiguihi si tata-na. Marine i tatan bihu-mu, lao matai gui’ yan i pumalu na Marines giya Wake Island. I tatan bihu-mu ha tungo’ na po matai. Ma tungo’ todu i sindalu na ti u ma dingu i isla la’la’la’. Tres dihas antes di ma konne’ i isla i Chapones, ha faisen un taotao paki gi un batkon aire i na’an-na Winocki. Taya’ nai umasodda’ este na dos. Lao i tatan bihu-mu ha gagao gui’ na u na’i i gof hoben yan nuebu na patgon lahi, este na ora na relos. Tres dihas maloffan yan matai ha’ i tatan bihu-mu, lao Si Winocki ha cho’gue i malago’-na i tatan bihu-mu. Anai makpo’ i gera ha bisita i nana-mu biha, ya ha na’i i relos.

Este na relos i tata-mu ha usa gi kannai-na anai ma paki gui’ gi aire gi hilo’ Hanoi giya Vietnam. Ginacha’ ni Vietnamese ya ma pega halom gi un tribunat gera. Lao anggen ma li’e i relos ni Vietnamese, siguru na ma chule’. Gi hinasson tata-mu, ilek-na na este na relos hagas ha’ iyoyo-mu na relos, i irensia-mu. Lanya siha este na Vietnamese anggen para u ma pacha’ i relos i lahi-na!

Ha pega i relos gi un lugat na ha tungo’ na taya’ sina ma sodda’…i galabok-na. Singko anos na gaige i relos gi daggan-na. Ha na’i yu’ i relos antes di matai-na ni dysentery. Dos anos hu na’atok este na relos gi galabok-hu. Siette anos maloffan ya ma sotta yu’, ya ma bira yu’ tatte para i familia-ku.

Pa’go na ora lahi, hu na’na’i hao este na relos.