Chamorro Translation Services

Every Chamorro speaker Prism Language Solutions works with is a US citizen, so there is no immigration story on this page and no certificate that needs translating. Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands issue their vital records in English. What a Chamorro translator is genuinely for is the private paper an elder left behind: a will in longhand, a statement about who farmed which parcel, a church register entry from the 1950s. The interpreting is for the elder who is exact in Chamorro and approximate in English.

Last reviewed September 12, 2026 by Sarah J, Prism Language Solutions

Chamorro is an official language of Guam and of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and fluency has retreated up the generations. Guam counted 34,598 Chamorro speakers in 1990 and 21,390 in 2020; most children in the Marianas now grow up in English and the revitalization classes are aimed at them. The diaspora meanwhile has grown, with the largest Chamorro population outside the islands in southern California and sizable communities in Washington, Texas, Nevada and Florida.

That combination produces a particular caller: an adult child in San Diego or Tacoma who has been interpreting for a parent for years and has just been handed something they cannot carry, or an attorney holding a bundle of handwritten pages from an estate in Guam.

• Certified translations prepared to meet USCIS requirements
• Human linguists only, matched to the subject
• Fixed written quote within 60 minutes in business hours
• One office in New York, linguists in every state

Chamorro Speakers Are US Citizens, and Their Documents Say So

A request for a certified Chamorro translation of a birth certificate is almost always a misunderstanding, and we say so on the phone rather than after invoicing. Guam's Office of Vital Statistics and the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation on Saipan issue birth, marriage and death certificates in English. They are US records. No federal agency, court or university will ask for a translation of one.

That removes the usual reason for a language page and leaves a narrower, more interesting set of work. It also means nobody on this page is filing for status. When a Chamorro family does have an immigration matter it is a petition for a relative who is not a US citizen, and the documents in question are that relative's, in that relative's language.

Certified Chamorro Translation of Wills, Land Statements and Church Records

The real Chamorro translation work is private, handwritten and usually old. An estate file will produce a will written in longhand, a letter setting out who was given which parcel and on what understanding, a sworn statement taken in a family dispute, or entries from a parish register that no civil office ever copied.

CHamoru or Chamorro: Guam and Saipan Spelling on a Translation

Guam's CHamoru language commission adopted a codified orthography in September 2018, which is why official Guam material now writes CHamoru with the CH capitalized as a single letter, while older documents, mainland usage and the Northern Marianas keep Chamorro. Beyond the name itself, spelling conventions and a slice of everyday vocabulary differ between the Guam and Northern Marianas varieties.

We ask which island a document or a speaker comes from before assigning, every time. It takes a moment and it settles both the translator and the register. On Saipan there is a further question: Carolinian is the neighboring official language, many families use both, and a document assumed to be Chamorro sometimes is not.

Chamorro Interpreters for Probate, Land and Deposition Work

Land and probate generate most of the Chamorro court work we see, because Guam and CNMI estates are argued over by heirs now scattered across the mainland, and the evidence is an elder's memory of who farmed which parcel in the 1960s. A deposition taken in Tacoma about a parcel in Guam is a routine assignment for us and a rare one for almost everyone else.

Certification exams in Chamorro do not exist in any state, so an interpreter is qualified by the court on the record, and we set out in writing what ours has done. Where an interpreter lives within reach we attend; otherwise video, scheduled around the time difference to the islands. Courts and law firms come to us directly for this, as a private agency with no appointment from any bench. See court interpreting and law firms.

Chamorro Medical Interpreters for Elders in California and Washington

Medical bookings are the largest single category. The pattern repeats: a parent manages the reception desk in English and switches to Chamorro the moment the subject is pain, medication or dying, and the adult child who has been filling the gap reaches the end of what they can responsibly do. A provider that takes federal funding owes the patient a Chamorro interpreter at no cost under 45 CFR 92.201, and families are rarely told.

Video reaches a bedside quickly and is the right answer for a specialist review or a consent discussion. For a hospice conversation, a capacity assessment or a family meeting about long-term care, we press for an interpreter in the room where one is based close enough. See medical interpreting.

Chamorro Translation and Interpreting: Booking and Cost

Handwritten Chamorro is quoted per document after we have seen it, since a legible two-page will and a faded eight-page land statement are not the same job. Short certified pages start from around $24.95 each as a US market guide, and interpreting typically falls between $45 and $95 an hour with a two-hour minimum on site. Send clear scans of every page including the blank-looking reverse, tell us whether the writer or the speaker is from Guam or the Northern Marianas, and we come back with a written quote inside the hour during business hours. Guide ranges are set out under pricing.

Questions we get asked