About Kansaiben

[Oosutorariajin]

I know that there has been a previous thread about this sort of thing but I want to know more info. I am thinking of studying in the kyoto area and I was wondering if learning in such an area affects your ability in understanding standard japanese. I dont care if i can speak kansaiben just on how far it will get me.

If no problem then great without second thought I will go there.

[4letterwords]

No, you'll be fine.

[ryobreak]

Kansaiben is generally praised. If you're a guy and speak it, you can expect girls would be happy =]

[Pierrot le Fou]

Kansai-ben is standard Japanese. Unless you want to sound like an NHK announcer. Which you don't.

Kansai-ben is half of the TV personalities, for one.

It will affect your ability to understand normal Japanese, however. You'll think that people from Kansai speak like women with their pansy-ass hyojungo.

(seriously, Kanto men speak like women, and the women are far more manly than Kyoto women)

So throw off the shackles of standardized Japanese! Kansai is where it's at.

[Digital Masta]

Those poor Kyushu inhabitants are SOL with their various dialects.

[Pierrot le Fou]

But Kyushu has Fukuoka, which kicks ass.

[Oosutorariajin]

That is very true about the TV, I might actually start understanding the jokes! I am thinking about say if I want to work with Japanese, translating or dealing with Japanese people. So if I know kansai it will probably help me better in the end, like people learning english going to australia and Britain will have a more diverse knowledge that will probably help out.

Just thought I would make sure.

[Pierrot le Fou]

However, be wary! Kansai-ben will make people chuckle at you from time to time because you learned a dialect before learning 'proper' language. This usually isn't that much of a hindrance, but can be awkward when it pops out in a job interview or somesuch.

[Digital Masta]

Dialect is always like that though...it was like when I was picking up Nagasaki dialect, it was fun to use in bars, with girls and guys my age, old japanese men and surprising my host family with it but otherwise I'd never use it otherwise, clearly not outside Nagasaki and I wouldn't have used it in a formal situation within Nagasaki.

Two of my friends fell in love with the dialect and even did a speech contest in it, which I didn't think was a good idea even though they did it as a joke. Our one japanese teacher knew they were doing it in Nagasaki-ben and let them but it still probably wasn't the smartest idea.

But then again way more people speak Kansai-ben, so its more widely used.

[Oosutorariajin]

So if I went to tokyo people there would probably understand most of what I say but if I were to only learn kanto then when I go to kansai I would struggle... Is that it? So it is better to get some exposure.

[Pierrot le Fou]

Tokyo people view Kansai folk as too forward, too friendly, and too goddamned cool for school. Because we are. As I stated, Kanto is the land of Tokyo-Tower Sized Anal Suppositories

[mikem]

I didn't have any trouble understanding kansai-ben when I visited Osaka. It just sounded different.

[ryobreak]

Kansai-ben is standard Japanese. Unless you want to sound like an NHK announcer. Which you don't.

Kansai-ben is half of the TV personalities, for one.

It will affect your ability to understand normal Japanese, however. You'll think that people from Kansai speak like women with their pansy-ass hyojungo.

(seriously, Kanto men speak like women, and the women are far more manly than Kyoto women)

So throw off the shackles of standardized Japanese! Kansai is where it's at.
Perhaps, but don't forget this is Japan- where femenine men are in high demand. :duh:

[MNJetter]

Kansai-ben is standard Japanese.
Pfffffffffhahahahahaha! :rofl:

I'm sorry.....come up to Tohoku and say that.

And then try and understand the answer you get.

[ミュー]

But Kyushu has Fukuoka, which kicks ass.
Enough to convince me that I needed to learn Hakata-ben :O

Kansai women are fatter. たこ焼きが大女の恋人だから :O
大女坂と言えば？(笑)

[koku]

I made a similar thread (about akita-ben that time), and I was way too anal about how I learned 'cuz I took it very seriously. Long story short I ended up going to Osaka and learning a little kansai ben, and not only is it fun, but it doesn't interfere at all.

Either you're a beginner and you learn so much just from using the langauge, period, or you're a pro and it doesn't matter where you learn. Either way, it's easy to tell what is kansai ben and what is standard (and you can always ask your teachers if you were curious about a phrase). Your teachers are instructed to use standard Japanese with you 24/7 and the friends you make will know that you're not learning kansai ben - they might try to teach you some slang later on, though.

As for exposure, I think it's a good idea to get something other than standard Tokyo-ben in you at some point. Or maybe Mikem can tell you the benifit in learning only kanto-ben. I say just go. Pick the best school and the longest term.

[gentlemanandscholar]

Enough to convince me that I needed to learn Hakata-ben :O

Kansai women are fatter. たこ焼きが大女の恋人だから :O
大女坂と言えば？(笑)

Hakata-ben ftw!

[Oosutorariajin]

I am actually going to be studying my honours there. I have to join normal classes in japanese and I was told that lecturers arent as strict at using standard when it isnt japanese language learning.

But what the hell, I mean I think everybody should learn Aussie english so I should learn Kansaiben!

Thanks for the advice everybody!

[mpz]

I don't understand what the big deal about dialects is. Watch copious amounts of TV and you'll get healthy doses of both standard Japanese as well as kansaiben. You'll learn to differentiate between the two in no time. Everything else is just icing on the cake.

[Pierrot le Fou]

Pfffffffffhahahahahaha! :rofl:

I'm sorry.....come up to Tohoku and say that.

And then try and understand the answer you get.
Pffft, everyone knows the hicks up there in the sticks can't speak. They can only grunt like animals, dammit.

The city is where it's at love.

[mikem]

As for exposure, I think it's a good idea to get something other than standard Tokyo-ben in you at some point. Or maybe Mikem can tell you the benifit in learning only kanto-ben. I say just go. Pick the best school and the longest term.

I've picked up some kansai-ben from my kansai friends. I usually switch when I go to Osaka (at least to my ability). It really doesn't hurt at all. Your brain is quite good at sorting that stuff out.

BTW, there is a Tokyo-ben too. During speaking tests I always have to be careful not to use slang words like ちょう instead of とても.

[Pierrot le Fou]

Kanto-ben chum, it's like slang for dummies.

And while I appreciate you attempting to speak like a civilized human bean (read: in Kansai-ben), it probably sounds like an American trying to mimic a British accent.

[Oosutorariajin]

where is めっちゃ from? My girlfriend uses it and she is from the central part of japan between the two. Is that kantouben or kansaiben or maybe it is a league of its own...

[Scott]

It's kansaiben. Like chou or totemo in standard.

[Oosutorariajin]

I get confused sometimes because she speaks i suppose you would call "toyamaben" and forgets to just use standard with me, she apparently does it with her friends too because she lives in Nagoya.

[mikem]

It's kansaiben. Like chou or totemo in standard.

chou is not standard. My teachers beat me over the head about that all of the time. It's Tokyo-ben.

I get confused sometimes because she speaks i suppose you would call "toyamaben" and forgets to just use standard with me, she apparently does it with her friends too because she lives in Nagoya.

Toyama-ben is so cute! I might be a little biased though. My toyama girl often didn't know some of the stuff she was saying was ben. It would be like trying to correct a southerners accent when they have been speaking that their whole life.

PLF, I can guarantee my Osaka-ben doesn't sound natural. However, neither does my Japanese so first things first.

[Scott]

It's not? I sit corrected.

[Chinpokomon]

chou is not standard. My teachers beat me over the head about that all of the time. It's Tokyo-ben.

I don't believe you. (or rather, your teachers):
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9D%B1%E4%BA%AC%E5%BC%81

ちょう is not polite. But I think it's standard. I knew it long before I came to Tokyo.

[mikem]

ちょう is not polite. But I think it's standard. I knew it long before I came to Tokyo.

Ah, maybe it was too informal then. That would make sense.

[Scott]

Good to have that cleared up...

[koku]

I've picked up some kansai-ben from my kansai friends. I usually switch when I go to Osaka (at least to my ability). It really doesn't hurt at all. Your brain is quite good at sorting that stuff out.

BTW, there is a Tokyo-ben too. During speaking tests I always have to be careful not to use slang words like ちょう instead of とても.


totemo was taught to us as standard (not slang) Japanese. Hmmmm.

EDIT: Thanks for the explanation, Scotty.

[Scott]

He's saying that totemo is standard. If you read his last sentence, he says that he tries to use totemo instead of chou because chou is slang.

[SlickWilly440]

Here is a link to a site with some kansai words/phrases and if you click the words you can hear how they are pronounced.

Link: http://compsoc.net/~gemini/kansai_ben/study.html

[Niff]

i learnt most of my conversational japanese while staying in osaka, so i really can't help but use it most of the time.

hell, makes japanese more fun anyway. i find standard japanese quite boring to listen to and speak. then again, i'm still just a teenager who needs to be stimulated 24/7 :P