I’m probably going to start learning Japanese anytime soon but I understand that there’s many dialects in the language. But somehow if I manage to learn only the kansai dialect of Japanese will I understand other dialects without studying, anything specific, do they have the same vocabulary?
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If you’re learning Japanese from the start I strongly recommend studying standard (Kanto) Japanese. You can branch off into other dialects from there.
It would be remarkably difficult to become fluent in Kansai-Ben before you learn to understand standard.
The vocabulary is mostly the same. It’s intonation, word endings, and some words that are different, but Kansai dialect can be understood by speakers of other dialects and vice versa.
Whoa.
Talk about counting your eggs before they are hatched.
You’ll be facing words that aren’t used the way it’s used in standard style (notably 直す), and it’s a lot of work identifying those differences. Another major issue is pitch accent playing a heavy role in western Japan – it doesn’t show up on written material. In the variant I speak (and also part of a very famous dialect joke), standard Japanese “あれチャウチャウじゃない?” turns into “あれチャウチャウちゃうんちゃう?”
Not to mention, you have to always watch out as to what variant of the dialect your material is using. Kyoto, Osaka (north and south), and Kobe are the three major branches that are notably different between one another.
Now, as it seems you haven’t even started learning any Japanese… you probably aren’t aware of how confusing Japanese is, even in textbook style. I’d advise you to get a solid grasp on the language before thinking about fluency in dialects.
A good time to think about it imo is when you can start understanding explanations of a dialect’s grammar point written in Japanese.
out of curiosity, why do you want to learn only kansai dialect over standard japanese?
No.
Japanese people have issues understanding certain dialects at times.
Listen, if you want to focus on speaking Kansai from the start, watch all sorts of content on YouTube with a focus on Kansai (but don’t neglect other dialects cuz you need to understand different speaking styles) and focus on your pitch awareness so that you can pick up the pitch accent patterns for the Kansai dialect by listening to a ton of Kansai-ben content. However, don’t be so neurotic about only immersing in one dialect. You need to understand other dialects, so have a whole range of content while having a primary focus on the dialect you want to learn.
Oojiman has a video on dialects:
https://youtu.be/46h8GHpcCX4
I also recommend looking into the Hikaru Challenge by Oojiman:
https://youtu.be/hdsp3cMl_20
Hikaru speaks in a Kansai dialect. I just forgot which one. However, just remember not to be so neurotic about only immersing in one dialect. You need to be able to understand all types of dialects (or at least the most common ones) and over time, you’ll be able to pick things up and slowly be able to speak in a Kansai dialect.
Yes and no. There will be an adjustment period that benefits from things I might call “studying.” (Like, opening a dictionary) But the process is *much* faster than when you initially learn the language.
Also it would be extremely difficult to get into this situation with Kansai-ben. The only way I can imagine getting stuck in something similar is if you try to learn purely from textbooks and then newscasts, which use a standardized dialect that could be described as “Upper Middle-Class Tokyo with all the personality bleached out of it.” Even anime (which is still uncomfortably narrow by itself) will eventually introduce you to the basics of Kansai-ben.
Can I ask why Kansai-ben?
I speak Kansai dialect. (Osaka mostly, since.. there’s different ones within kansai lol).
But.. you will definitely hear standard a lot more. You’ll understand it for sure. Just word choices you choose may be different. If you’re learning in Kansai you’ll likely pick up the intonation here.
But just start with standard a Japanese (that’s what textbooks will teach you) and you can learn kansai-ben afterwards. Its not like its a whole other language lol.