Dialects of Japanese language

The Japanese language has dozens of geographic dialects in addition to standard Japanese, which grew out of Kanto's dialect.

Contents

Kansai dialect

The most well-known, Kansai-ben ( , ben dialect), also known as Osaka-ben, is a dialect spoken in the Kansai region of Japan, and most notably in the city of Osaka. Most Japanese from outside the region find the dialect to be rough-sounding.

Most English translations of anime, when attempting to represent Kansai-speaking characters or seiyuu, often use as a substitute, either voice actors with American Southern or mild Ebonics-tinged accents, or occasionally Brooklyn accents.

Kansai-ben contracts several words—chigau "wrong" becomes chau, omoshiroi "interesting" becomes omoroi, and hontō "really" becomes honma. It replaces others entirely—suteru "to throw away" becomes hokasu, and totemo "very" becomes mecha.

Some Japanese words gain entirely new meaning when used against someone who speaks Kansai-ben. baka which is used as "idiot" in most regions, becomes "complete fool" and a stronger insult than aho. Most Kansai-ben speakers cannot stand being called baka but don't mind being called aho.

Kansai-ben is strongly associated with Manzai and many of comedies and jokes. In Azumanga Daioh, Ayumu Kasuga is called "Osaka" as a joke as she is not a typical quick witted Kansai-ben speaker.

Common phrases famous as Kansai dialect include:

  • akan - a mild expletive
  • aho - (affectionate) idiot
  • donkusai - stupid (literally "stupid-smelling") or be clumsy
  • honnnara - in that case
  • makeru - to discount a price (literally "to lose")
  • tanomu - please
  • yaru - to give (is a vulgar form of "to give" or "to do" elsewhere in Japan)
  • nan ya - equivalent of "nani?" - to say "what?" or "what's going on?" - can also be used like "did you call my name?"
  • nan ya nen - what are you doing?/ what are you saying?
  • nande ya nen - you gotta be kidding!
  • shindoi or shindo - I'm tired

Fukui dialect

Fukui-ben is a notable dialect of the Fukui prefecture in the Japanese language. Speakers of Fukui-ben tend to talk in an up and down, sing songy manner.

Examples of Fukui-ben include:

  • hoya hoya, meaning hai (yes) or so desu yo (that is true)
  • mmmmm-do, instead of ee-to (let's see, or well)
  • tsuru tsuru, adjective used to mean very, or a lot (as in, "tsuru tsuru ippai," or this glass is very full, almost overflowing)
  • jyami jyami,when we can not watch TV, it is used. Usually, suna arashi is used in Japan.

Speakers of Kansai-ben and Kanto-ben tend to look down on Fukui-ben as being hopelessly provincial, or inaka (of the country). A rough analogy would be an American from deep Alabama or Mississippi talking with someone from the West Coast. That being said, Fukui-ben is not without its own charm and even homespun elegance.

Hakata dialect

Hakata-ben is the dialect of Fukuoka. To natives of Tokyo, Hakata-ben sounds provincial and uneducated, much the same as Fukui-ben, though the dialect is entirely different. Throughtout Japan, Hakata-ben is famous, amongst many other idiosyncrasies, for its use of -to? as a question (e.g., nani shite iru? "What are you doing?" becomes nanba shiyotto?)

Examples of Hakata-ben include:

  • ano sa instead of ano ne (hey, listen up...)
  • asoban instead of asobou (let's play)
  • batten instead of da kedo (but)
  • da ken instead of da kedo (but)
  • yokaroumon instead of deshou (good, don't you think?)
  • bari instead of totemo (very)
  • shitoocchan instead of shiterunda (I'm doing it)
  • ~shitookiyo instead of shite kinasai (please do ~; used with children)
  • tottouto instead of tottimasu (to take)
  • yokka yokka instead of sou desu ne (yeah; is that so?)

Other dialects

  • Hokkaido-ben
  • Tohoku-ben is widely considered to be a slow and "clumsy" dialect famous for dawdling.
  • Kawachi-ben
  • Nagoya-ben is a dialect spoken in and around the city of Nagoya. It is Kanto in accent, Kansai in intonation, archaic in vocabulary and Nagoya in grammar.
  • Kobe-ben is a variation on Kansai-ben, most notable for conjugating verbs with an ending -ton (nani shite iru? "What are you doing?" becomes nani shiton?)
  • Kyoto-ben is a very soft and melodic Kansai dialect variation. Where Kobe dialect would say -ton, Kyoto dialect uses -taharu or -teharu (e.g. nani shitaharu no?). The sentence endings -yasu and -dosu are also common in Kyoto.
  • Satsuma-ben, the dialect of Kagoshima prefecture, is often called "unintelligible" because of distinct conjugations of words and significantly different vocabulary. It is rumored that Satsuma people deliberately used obsolete or quirky words to prevent spies from knowing what they talked about. Instead, as the furthest place from Kyoto, it is likely that divergences in dialect were accumulated in Satsuma making it oddly strange.

External links



eo:Fukui dialekto

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