Fino Haya Video Project

Fino’ Håya Video Project
The Guam Community College proudly presents this series of 16 DVDs in Fino’ Håya, the indigenous language of the island of Guam, in an effort to revive, promote, and preserve this unique bond to our ancestors. Produced over a period of three years (2010-2012), these DVDs highlight the pre-contact (before European or Western infusion) way of life – the food, names of plants, fish, illnesses, cures, traditional practices and the culture of the indigenous people of the land. 


Fino’ Håya is one of an estimated 1,200 languages in the Austronesian language family that originated out of Taiwan more than 5,000 years ago. The first people of Guam are believed to have arrived in our archipelago about 4,000 years ago. They spoke a language that was replete with reduplication, affixation, morphophonemic transformation, and linguistic characteristics that are just as strong today as they were in ancient times. 


The idea for this project originated from our students’ desires to learn the original indigenous language of the island. The basic approach to reviving Fino’ Håya was to isolate indigenous, or pre-contact words. Using a variety of available resources, select words were compared with those of other Austronesian languages for authenticity. These pre-contact names of our plants, illnesses, cures, and descriptions of the ancient way of life are but a sample of the clues that the original language can provide for people today.


This project was made possible in part through a grant from the Administration for Native Americans. We extend our sincere appreciation to all who have contributed to making this series of Fino’ Håya DVDs possible.    


*For our purposes and in the interest of maintaining consistent spelling, the 1983 CHamoru Orthography as approved by Guåhan’s Kumision I Fino’ CHamoru/CHamoru Language Commission is employed.



I Sahguan I Taotao Tåno' (Full version)

Gi i såkkan i latte siha yan i manmofo'na na taotao tåno' manmama'tinas sahguan siha. Gi i sahgua' i taotao tåno' siha, guaha manmasodda' sahguan gi annai guaha fina'cho'cho' guinadok. Ini na sinanggan gi i Fino' Håya, hana'tutunggo' hita tumaimano mafa'tinas-ña i sahguan i taotao tåno' yan i håfa siha na guinahan i tano' ni' sumaonao gi i mafa'tinas-ña i sahguan.


 



 I Sahguan I Taotao Tåno' (Full version with Fino' Håya subtitles)





The Pottery of the People of the Land (Full version with English subtitles)

The ancient people made pottery during the Prelatte and Latte years. Pottery pieces were uncovered at ancient village sites during archaeological diggings. This story, narrated in the Fino' Håya, shares the way pottery was made and the native organic materials used by the women of the land to make this pottery.






The Pottery of the People of the Land (Full version with Sign Language)