Quote:
Originally Posted by MMM
Kind of...sort of...not really...
I have heard more than a couple Tokyo-ites say they wish they had a "dialect" as they felt the standard Japanese...Tokyo Japanese...was too boring. Most of the top comedians are from the Kansai region, and that's no accident (and it's more than because of Yoshimoto Talent Agency)
What I have noticed is that when Kansai people are talking together, they constantly insert jokes, put each other down (in a friendly way) and are trying to find ways so insert humor into almost any conversation. Tokyo conversations aren't like that. (Not that Tokyo people don't have a sense of humor...far from it...but it's just a different way of communicating.)I think in Kansai it is more constant. In that respect, it's harder to offend a Kansai person, but you also need to have thick skin and a sense of humor to keep up. They also talk very fast in the Kansai area, so it's good training for getting conversational Japanese down. The wit is very sharp and fast, and if you miss a "cue" of some self-depracating humor, you might get booed.
For example, someone might say. "I just finished a sudoku, and it only took me 3 weeks. I was pretty proud because on the cover it said '10 years and up'." Now if you don't immediately reply "なんでやねん？!" ("What the hell are you thinking?" is one translation) your conversation partner might literally fall out of his chair as an indication that you've derailed the conversation.
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Interesting. I never knew that, but I guess I should've phrased what I wrote better. I was thinking along the lines of the way the words are pronounced. I've heard a little bit of Kansai-ben, and seems they stretch out syllables when talking.