RResidents in Japan

Me, Japanese Surprised

Today, I saw foreingners who looked like they were at a loss, so I asked them ” May I help u?”
I thought it would be a good opportunity to speak English. But one of them suddenly answered with
almost perfect Kansai dialect, which i found very interesting. (She said she is studying abroad in Japan)Everyone is talking about English accents, but ofc Japanese has got a lot of accents,

Which accent do u like most? Or u can tell the difference?

For me, Kansai dialect sounds a little bit vulgar and Standard one makes me a littld bit cringe…lol(bc they sound like they act cute for me speaking Kansai dialect, which sounds aggressive to non kansai people) but don’t worry, it’s just my problem lol you don’t have to care about your accent. Just pick whatever accent you want

35 comments

  1. I’m probably the only foreigner in history who likes standard Japanese the most and has no interest in the Kansai dialect and doesn’t find it cool or whatever.

  7. I lived in Fukuoka for a few years and my Hakata-ben is still going strong, which never fails to amuse everyone.

  8. It’s probably the dialect he/she was exposed to the most. I never thought I actually talk with a subtle Kanazawa-ben until someone pointed it out to me, and indeed Kanazawa was where I first learned Japanese formally and exposed to the local dialect.

  9. My ex-wife was from Hiroshima. Even though she spoke a mix of broken English and standard Japanese with me, she used 広島弁 when talking to her family. Because of that I can tell apart the dialects from Hiroshima, Kansai and central Japan.

    I don’t have much experience with the dialects from the north.

  11. My first 5 years in Japan was spent in Akita where I picked up a lot of odd Akita-Ben phrases. Then I moved to Aichi and it felt like having to learn Japanese all over again.

  12. What’s the foreigners accent? Like is there a french accent when speaking japanese? It’s easy to spot in English imo

  13. I spent the beginning years here in Fukuoka and my dialect still leans heavy towards that. There are some habits I can’t quite shake.

  14. To be honest i prefer 関西弁 over standard japanese because it feels more natural? I don’t know if it’s the right word to describe it but it’s just how it feels. Standard one sounds too stiff and less casual.

  15. I like the Tohoku dialect that old ladies use. It is often not understood by native Japanese speakers and sounds sometimes like gibberish but it is lovely to hear 70-90 year old ladies speaking.

  16. Living in Osaka for a while. I like hearing the accent; it feels very warm and friendly to me. But I don’t even try to speak the dialect at all; it feels contrived.

    I hear other foreigner friends try to speak the dialect with bits they learned here and there; a bit cringy if you ask me. That said a few, especially the ones living here for a while, can pull it off with the right accent and everything; very impressive.

    I made friends with a bartender who spoke the dialect, but she said she was from Hokkaido. I asked her how come she spoke the Osaka dialect and she said it was fake. Then I heard the other bartender who was a local speak and I was like ‘Oh’.

  18. I’ve spent a long time in Hiroshima so I’m a bit biased when I say Hiroshima dialect is my favorite.

    I also like Fukuoka dialect

  19. I wouldn’t call it dialect, but I’ve found myself using Hokkaido slang in the past year or so.

    These two slip out most often:

    めんこい menkoi = kawaii (slightly different nuance to kawaii also)
    しばれる shibareru = it’s really damn cold (in regular Japanese it means “to be bound”)

  21. Any dialect (including hardcore Edo) > 標準語 imho. I’m most used to Kansai cause I sorta picked it up when I lived there and find it easier to express my feelings in it than in 標準語, but I’m sure the same would have happened if I’d have gone somewhere else in Japan instead and found enough people who weren’t embarrassed about having a dialect.

  24. I’m partial to Awa-ben but I know that’s because I lived in and loved Tokushima. There’s definitely a sense of loyalty/pride there, even if I’m not Japanese. Tokushima is awesome!

  27. I learned Japanese in Kanagawa with lots of “Jan”. “Ii Jan!” Which is actually Kanagawa dialect, but few realize. But I guess I’m the boring average foreigner in that I prefer the Kansai dialect. I associate it with being much more blunt versus Kanto which is too reserved and polite and indirect. Bluntness is good for a blunt American like me.

  28. I love learning different Dialects. I find it super interesting.
    For example I can say a few things in Okinawa-ben, and Aomori-ben (nanbu), which is utterly useless I know….until I meet someone from those regions and suddenly say something in their dialect.
    When I do, this always brings a huge smile to their faces and seems to make them very happy.

  29. 関西弁は標準語よりめっちゃ便利やで。 much more direct, grammar is easier. Especially Keigo. In particular はる.
    A:ドラえもんはどこにおるか？　
    B:ドラえもんは外でのびた君と喋ってはる。

    And Historically speaking, most of Japanese history revolves around the Kansai region. Imho,Don’t see why they don’t make it standard Japanese from a cultural point of view.

  30. I, for one, prefer the random old guy gruff you only really hear bouncing around the tiled walls of any local sento.

  34. Me personally, Hiroshima Jaken. I grew up in a small remote village in the prefecture and we shorten a lot of our words, it doesnt make much sense outside of that specific village/town area… For example “Waken” is short for “Wakarimasen” or “Tabetan” for “Tabetanai”, “Yomen” for “Yomenai” etc etc. It can be hard because of lot of people dont understand my Japanese, and I sound like a hillbilly or something. “Waken ja ne yo?”

  35. I myself am decent at speaking a few different languages; but for some reason Japanese grammar hasn’t completely “clicked” for me, and my vocab is kind of weak because I know JUST ENOUGH Japanese to be able to describe something when I don’t know the word for it.

    My son (born here, a native speaker) says that my spoken ACCENT is perfect, but the things I say are goofily expressed.

    “You sound like a native Japanese, but one who’s kind of dumb.”

    Thanks, son.

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