Japanese dialect, 100 read speeches utterance of 25 dialect speakers and their transcriptions of. The stereotypical kansai jin a person from kansai is outgoing, fast talking, funny, friendly, quickwitted and caring. Kansai dialects ya is the equivalent to a copula dadesu in tokyo dialect. The kansai dialect, kansai ben, also known as kansai hogen. The only thing that more or less remains the same is the grammatical structure, and even that changes somewhat. As the larger area around osaka is called the kansai region of japan, this dialect is also called kansaiben the kansai dialect. The kansai dialect of japanese, kansaiben is spoken in surprise, surprise the kansai area of western japan, especially the big cities of osaka, kyoto, nara and kobe. Its a bit complicated to explain it fully, but it is often recognized for its lack of vowel reduction when compared to standard japanese.
The kansai dialect is a group of japanese dialects in the kansai region kinki region of japan. Each region has its own personality and flavor, and each expat has their own take on it. Kansai ben is significant enough that sometimes it can even affect standard japanese. It wont hurt to learn the kansai dialect vocabulary so you understand it if you are based in osaka, but foc. They are proud to be of the kansai people, and of the kansai local culture.
My wife is from kansai, so i picked it up from her and her family. Japanesedialectskansai wikibooks, open books for an open. Everyone around you will be speaking to one another in kansai dialect. The western japanese kansai dialect was the prestige dialect when kyoto was the capital, and western forms are found in literary language as well as in honorific expressions of modern tokyo dialect and therefore standard japanese, such as adverbial ohayo gozaimasu not ohayaku, the humble existential verb oru, and the polite negative. The kansai region includes kyoto, osaka and kobe and has its own culture and dialect. Hundreds of sample phrases, sentences and conversations show how the dialect works in everyday situations, ranging from shopping to dealing with the boss. Kansaiben is significant enough that sometimes it can even affect standard japanese. Kansaiben kansai dialect kansaiben takes up a large slice of even the tokyo residents mind. In other parts of kansai, is used primarily by women, but in kyoto men use it as well. As you know, all language experiences some changes as time goes by, and so has kansai dialect. They tend to think of their dialect as the opposite of the standard japanese, rather than merely one of the regional dialects in japan. Tokyos dialect is considered standard japanese todays focus is on the dialect of osaka, kyoto and the surrounding area. What are the basic things to learn in order to speak in this dialect. Newest kansaiben questions japanese language stack exchange.
Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. The stereotypical kansaijin a person from kansai is outgoing, fast talking, funny, friendly, quickwitted and caring. Kansai dialect selfstudy site for japanese language learners. Young people nowadays tend to use what is called neo dialect the dialect affected by the standard japanese. Wondering what regional variations of japanese sound like. Even within kansai, there can be a lot of diversity in dialect depending on gender and age.
Words lexical feature there are various lexical differences between the standard and kansai dialect from traditional ones to those created recently, such as. The kansai region, which includes osaka, nara, kyoto, and kobe, differs considerably from the capital region of kanto in almost every way, aside from both being large japanese. In japanese, kansai ben is the common name and it is called kinki dialect. Kansai dialect wikimili, the best wikipedia reader. Newest kansaiben questions japanese language stack. Kansai dialects vocabulary is sometimes introduced into other dialects and even standard japanese. Its not a matter of tokyoites say baka and osakans say ahoits much dep. This volume is the first fullfledged handbook of japanese dialects in english. Whats the major differences between the spoken japanese.
Kansai ben the japanese page learn japanese online for free. Some people of all ages are capable of speaking standard japanese, but dont give a shit and choose speak to everyone in kansai dialect anyway. A case study from osaka find, read and cite all the. I think when you speak english, you have an englishspeakers mindset, and when you speak japanese, you have a japanese mindset.
The kansai dialect is further broken down into a number of subdialects, the best known of which are the osaka dialect, osakaben and socalled kyoto language, kyokotoba. Conjugation morphosyntactic feature here the major grammatical differences of the kansai dialect are described for detailed explanation and examples, please refer to chapter 3. After the second world war, despite the spread of standard japanese, kansai dialect regained some popularity with the birth of mass media such as television in the 1950s. While there is a distinct qualitytone in the way the speak were talking about changing emphasis on syllable, not like an accent as in a british vs american accent, the tone is in fact strangely as it may seem not a requisite for speaking kansaiben kansai dialect. Is it important to learn kansai dialect if i want to study. American pop art illustration with kansai dialect message vol. For a very long time, people in japan were very limited in movement. Moreover, some japanese may even explicitly use kansaiben to identify themselves with the image of kansai.
Its probably got the most people speaking it outside of standard japanese or tokyo dialect standard japanese is pretty close to tokyo dialect. A group of japanese dialects in the kansai region kinki region of japan. While kinki and kansai are basically synonymous words, the word kansai, is usually used to refer to the triangle region oosaka, kyouto and koube. The study of japanese dialects has a long tradition, and significant contributions have been made in many subfields of linguistics such as geolinguistics, sociolinguistics, philology, phonology, accentology, grammar, and lexicology. Dec 10, 2016 words only used in jpkansai dialect top10. Moreover, some japanese may even explicitly use kansai ben to identify themselves with the image of kansai. The sentence below is said by a kansaispoken character but im not sure if thetwo phrases are related to the dialect. You are brushing up on your kansai ben with a nice obaasan outside an udon shop when suddenly a ninja jumps out and says, goodo morningu.
Ch2 provides a list of common greetings, leavetakings and useful expressions in kansai ben. Except for nhk nippon hoso kyokai, or japan broadcasting corporation in english, many programs picked up the kansai dialect as an element of culture. Kansai ben the japanese page learn japanese online for. In my opinion, the kansai area has totally different culture from kanto. The kansai dialect, kansaiben, also known as kansai hogen. Although the information is all in japanese, you can view a transcript of the. Mar 31, 2020 i believe it is the same for the kansai dialect. Almost everything is different, from cadence to wording. Most of the people growing up there are going to speak some kind of kansai dialect. You can learn as much or as little as you like, and different kansai folks speak different levels of the dialect. While it is true that nearly all japanese nationals can speak the standard language, it is by no means their every day language.
Today we will take a look at an interesting aspect of the japanese language, dialects. The kansai dialect nowadays is different from what it used to be a decade ago. I think that that would be the best way to go find someone from kansai and learn from them. What is the kansai accent and why is it so special in anime.
Many learners of japanese begin their studies thinking that the language is a single standard, spoken across the whole nation. These two particles are used in the same way except that zo is used by males to say something in the stronger terms and to sound tough. Living in japan is a unique experience, but each region of japan is an experience unto itself. The kansai dialect is thought to symbolize the strong local identity of the people within the kansai domestic culture. Although used in other kansai subdialects, is used much more often in kyoto and in different ways.
Kansai dialect refers to a group of dialect spoken in kansai region. Japanesedialectskansai wikibooks, open books for an. Japanesedialects wikibooks, open books for an open world. For example, many english language adaptations of manga and anime use southern american english as a counterpart of kansai dialect, although kansai dialect does not usually fit the bumpkin image as well as the southern american english does. You have heard it but are not sure how different it is from standard japanese. Therefore, your life will be much easier and better if you can understand kansai. Jun 15, 2016 however, if you befriend some of the locals, while you wont be expected to speak in kansai dialect, you are more likely to build a closer relationship if you can understand it, and your efforts to use it will be appreciatedwhile also likely providing some amusement to your kansai friends. For even more fun, what you know as kansaiben is probably most likely actually oosakaben. You want to avoid dialects and speak standard japanese which is closest to the kanto dialect.
The regional dialect involved in this study is osaka dialect, which. Pdf on jan 1, 2008, shigeko okamoto and others published the use of. With clear explanations of grammar, a kansai ben dictionary, and a helpful index, colloquial kansai japanese is an indispensable guide to the rich speech of kyoto, osaka and kobe. In japanese, kansaiben is the common name and it is called kinki dialect. While japanese dialectology is heavily influenced by the western. Thats why i wanted to do a kansaiben contest at the end of the class, because thats how you use the dialect on a daily basis. As a result individual areas developed distinct dialects. Osakaben is a specific dialect of the japanese language sometimes spoken in the area around the major city of osaka.
Also provisional ba form is rarely used in the kansai dialect, and instead, conditional tara form is widely used for most of the occasion. Kansai dialect grammar verbs verbs kansaiben also has two types of regular verb, godan verbs and ichidan verbs, and two irregular verbs, kuru to come and suru to do, but some conjugations are different from standard japanese. A sociolinguistic attitude survey concerning the kansai dialect. However, there are a large number of features common to almost. The dialects of kyoto and osaka, especially in the edo period, are also called kamigata dialect.
A japanese phrasebook and language guide tuttle language library at. Short video clips, grammar notes, auraloral exercises are provided. We have prepared two sets of sample video clips for you. What is the kansai accent and why is it so special in. For someone who has studied standard japanese, how hard is it to learn kansai dialect. What the heck youve just gotten your first taste of osaka dialect, or. Some handy phrases so you can speak the kansai dialect. However, kansai is the second most populated urban region in japan after kanto, with a population of about 20 million, so kansai dialect is still the most widely spoken, known and influential nonstandard japanese dialect. All i know so far is that the sentence ending particles are different. However, if you befriend some of the locals, while you wont be expected to speak in kansai dialect, you are more likely to build a closer relationship if you can understand it, and your efforts to use it will be appreciatedwhile also. The comedians on tv speak it incessantly, three large cities osaka, kyoto, and kobe speak it, and most japanese accept the differences as quaint and interesting, just as most americans think of southern accents, and londoners think of northern accents. Kansai refers to a region of japan with over 20 million people. Kansai dialect has over a thousand years of history. Kansai dialect dialectology language varieties and styles scribd.