KÅNTA : TILIFON

One of my favorite Saipan singers. Such a soothing, male voice from Alfred Saures, who wrote this song.

TILIFON

Kumåti i tilifon uno, dos, tres, kuåttro biåhe.

(The phone rang one, two, three, four times.)

Humallom yo' na taigue hao sa' tåya' man oppe.

(I figured you were gone because no one answered.)

Hu kana' hulo' i tilifon ya tumekkon yo' sen triste.

(I hung up the phone and bowed my head very sadly.)

Ai sa' tuhu påpa' i lago'-ho.

(Oh, my tears flowed down.)

Mantiene i dos påtman kanai-ho nene åntes de un hånao.

(Take hold of both palms of my hand, baby, before you go.)

Hagas mohon un sångan ti bai hu ågang hao guato.

(If only you said something before I wouldn't have called there to you.)

Ai sa' un diroga nene i kontråta.

(Oh, you changed the plan, baby.)

Ai sa' tuhu påpa' i lago'-ho.

(Oh, my tears flowed down.)

Håfa yo' bai cho'gue nene an ti ya-mo yo'?

(What shall I do, baby, if you don't like me?)

Po'lo diahlo ya bai hu sungon i piniti-ho.

(Let me just the same suffer my pain.)

Sa' i piniti-ho nene ti bai maleffa.

(Because I won't forget, baby, my pain.)

Ai sa' tuhu påpa' i lago'-ho.

(Oh, my tears flowed down.)

SOME LANGUAGE NOTES

Kumåti. Really means "to cry out," and dilingding is "to ring." But, when switching to English, it sounds awkward to say that the phone "cried out." In Chamorro, one can also make the car cry out, as in "Hu na' kåti i karetå-ho," "I made my car cry out," meaning "I honked the horn."

Hallom. Is different from hålom. Hålom is "to enter." Hallom is "to perceive, to figure out, to suspect, to intuit."

Hagas mohon. A beautiful construction. Hagas means "in the past," and mohon means "if only." So hagas mohon means "if only in the past."

Diroga. "To cast aside, make void, change, nullify, cancel." We got it from the Spanish who got it from the Latin which is the root for the English word derogate, "to reduce, lessen, deviate from, depart from" and so on.

Kontråta. Sounds like the English word "contract" and both words are from the same root. Kontråta is a contract, or agreement, or understanding or a plan. In romance, it means the understanding the two lovers had about sharing a future together.

Diahlo. One of those almost untranslated expressionss. It sends the message "No thanks," or "Just the same" or maybe even the kind of "Whatever!" when said in sad resignation.