(upbeat energetic music) [Brian] This is the island where I was born.

The ocean in my backyard, lush jungles, tourist destination beaches.

Guam is home to 170,000 people and about 30 miles in length.

We are a US territory.

The CHamoru people are the indigenous people of the Mariana Islands.

And although I am CHamoru myself, I, like so many others, do not speak the CHamoru language.

That's because it's dying.

Only 5% of people under 30 still speak it.

I'm grappling with how to keep our native language alive for myself and for my kids, so that the language of our people doesn't end with a whisper.

(upbeat music fades) (gentle music) I don't know if the CHamoru language really influenced my upbringing.

I grew up on MTV.

- I want my MTV.

[Brian] VH1.

♪ VH1 ♪ So, I was watching a lot of music videos.

I actually associated myself as an American, even, yes, I am an American, but I didn't think of this CHamoru people.

I didn't imagine when I was a child that I was part of a specific culture 'cause I thought we were just generalized American, especially the media I was consuming.

There wasn't any CHamoru cartoons or CHamoru programming at the time for kids.

So even as a kid, you know, you put importance into things that your parents put importance to, right?

So it's like education, "Make sure you get good grades."

So, CHamoru...

I don't think I really felt CHamoru or understood what that was until I had to take it, actually, in elementary school.

(soft piano music) When I think of the language, I think of her.

My grandma is gonna be one of the last people that really speak it, you know?

(soft piano music continues) And I have two sons.

Yeah, they're Filipino CHamoru.

- Whee!

[Brian] But I feel like if it dies with my mother and my grandmother what left do I have to give to them of their culture?

(grandma giggles) How about ocean?

Ocean?

(soft music fades) [Michael] In the 20th century though, that's when the CHamoru language starts to become threatened.

When the United States arrives, one of their major things that they wanna focus on is the eradication of the CHamoru language.

And so, one of the main reasons why the CHamoru language starts to decline is sort of the connection where you have the punishments, that CHamorus experience for speaking CHamoru, combined with pressures to Americanize and to assimilate into American culture.

And so we cannot really understate how significant the impact is to have two generations, three generations of students go through a school system where the language you're learning at home, you go through multiple years of schooling and if you say even the word you get slapped on the hand.

You have to pay your lunch money as a fine.

You have to drink castor oil or wear a sign that indicated that they were a bad student or that they were stupid because they had spoken their native language.

After World War II, the language continues to decline, because the policies that the US Navy created where they had banned CHamoru in schools, they continued.

(somber music continues) Even though the US Navy was no longer in charge of the island, a civilian education system continued to keep those policies in place up until 1970.

It's really unfortunate because this language has been around for thousands of years.

It has survived wars, all different types of occupations, but it's really in the lifetimes of our parents and grandparents that we start to see it really declining and diminishing.

(somber music continues) We experience today the impacts of that, where the majority of the CHamoru people can no longer speak their native language.

(somber music continues) [Brian] The last time I felt the language was in my time as a cultural dancer.

I had lost sight of the language and had grown disconnected out of convenience.

The more I pulled away, the more I felt I was losing a big piece of my identity.

With my grandmother much older and a father to two sons, it is my hope to find my way back.

[Anna] Everything starts with us, right?

And if we wanna teach love, if wanna teach respect, it starts with us.

And so I think, the first thing you need to do is put it to action.

You know, this whole idea of why we're together today and having this discussion is because of your experience of not being able to speak a language.

So, there's opportunity.

There's a great opportunity now to learn it.

And it's just how bad do you want it?

And then, put it to practice.

Use the resources.

There's so many resources today.

And start with you.

And then, advocate.

Be an advocate wherever you're at, wherever you exist, whether it's your job, whether it's with your children, with your family.

I am a lover of children.

- Yeah.

- And so I came up with a slogan, "Hasso yu'", which means to remember me or think of me.

"Fanå'gue yu'", which means teach me.

And "nå'i yu' iyo-ku", which means give me what is mine.

And so what is it that we wanna give them?

And to say, I think of a child looking up at me and saying, "Saina," you know?

"Don't forget about me."

Yeah.

[Anna] "Teach me.

Teach me your ways, because how could I know if you don't teach me?"

- Yeah.

(class speaks in CHamoru) (class continues to speak in CHamoru) A CHamoru Saina name.

What do you think my name should be?

(children speak in CHamoru) - Pulan means moon.

Pulan means moon?

- And gamson means octopus.

- Mm, why did you choose Saina Pulan?

(child speaks in CHamoru) What did he say?

(laughs) - This is why... (soft music) (shoes shuffling) I know that our words can connect us to so much more and through this journey, I'm opening up experiences for my children to learn our culture.

(footsteps on rock) (bird chirps) Our ancestors were...

This is where they spoke the truest language.

So, do you think that was another child's hand?

- Yes.

That's our CHamoru people, like our ancestors, our spirit ancestors.

You know that, right?

And then, what does seeing this make you think about your culture?

That they're trying to communicate with us.

Do you see the spear?

- Mhm.

- The spear that they painted?

This is ancient pottery.

Go ahead and put it in your hand.

Do you feel that?

- Mhm.

[Brian] They say when you hold this, you're forming a connection with our ancestors from thousands of years ago.

(soft music continues) 24 years later, I'm revisiting my fellow cultural dancers.

As I once was given the gift of hearing the language through song, I now have the honor to be blessed by a new, younger generation to guide me on my journey.

(musician sings in CHamoru) (group sings in CHamoru) (group continues to sing in CHamoru) (soft music) [Brian] My journey now, is not due to the failures of my past.

It's to preserve the memories that I can still gain with my grandmother.

And it's a gift that I can pass on to my children so they can feel a connection that I had once lost, to know the foundation from which their identity was built.

A resilient language, the CHamoru language that only a handful of people are working so desperately to preserve.

I may not be able to speak in the way that the generations before me, but I can help spread our word to carry on the language through my sons.

(group continues to sing in CHamoru) Hasso yu' Fanå'gue yu' Nå'i yu' iyo-ku (music fades) (upbeat guitar strumming) (group sings in CHamoru) (group continues to sing in CHamoru) (guitar strumming continues) (group continues to sing in CHamoru) (music fades)