Signs

1. Håfa Adai

   Haf-a A-dai

   Welcome / Hello (greeting sign)

   Usage

   The most visible CHamoru text in Guam and the CNMI: the arrivals hall at Guam's airport, hotel and restaurant entrances, licence plates, and village welcome signs. Businesses in the Guam Visitors Bureau's Håfa Adai Pledge display it on their door. On Saipan it is sometimes paired with the Carolinian greeting Tirow. All functional wayfinding around it is in English

2. Si Yu'os Ma'åse'

   Si Yu-os Ma-a-se

   Thank you (farewell sign)

   Usage

   Posted beside shop registers, at exits, at government counters, and on roadside signs as you leave a village. The Guam Visitors Bureau states that it uses this spelling with its diacritics in all printed communications, omitting them only online

3. Chålan

   Cha-lan

   Street / Road (on street name plates)

   Usage

   Most street name plates on Guam and Saipan begin with Chalan (Chalan San Antonio, Chalan Santo Papa, Chalan Kanoa). It fills the slot of English "Street" or "Avenue" and is the CHamoru word you will read most often on signage, including on maps and taxi destinations

4. Puntan

   Pun-tan

   Point / Cape (in place names)

   Usage

   Appears on the brown park and lookout signs along the coast. Sites are often labelled with both names, as in Puntan Dos Amåntes (Two Lovers Point) and Puntan Sabaneta (Banzai Cliff). Seeing this word on a sign tells you a headland viewpoint lies ahead

5. Biba

   Bi-ba

   Long live / Hooray (festival banner)

   Usage

   The word on banners and street bunting during village fiestas and CHamoru Month in March — Biba Guåhan!, Biba Mes CHamoru!, with a place or event name after it. It is seasonal decoration, not permanent signage

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