Please help me to read this English sentence:

[YuriTokoro]

Originally Posted by Columbine

I lived in a city about 30 minutes by train from Osaka. I'm not sure how big it is by Japanese standards; the population is about 400,000, which seems large to me. I really loved it.

Osaka! I SEE! They would bawl.
Some people say that Osaka people are not Japanese, but Osaka-jin.
Their language is different from the Japanese language.
Osaka is not rural, but I don’t think they act like Japanese.
I like Osaka, but I can’t live there even if I want because I can’t speak like them.

I have friends living in Sendai and Yamagata. Most tourists don't bother to go there, so any foreigners there tend to be there for work. Both live in areas outside the main city centre, so even though it's a big city, they don't see many other non-asian foreigners.

I don’t think both Sendai and Yamagata are big city.
My relatives live in Yamagata and I have been there many times. I’m sure that Yamagata is really rural.

My teacher actually explained it very well with this story: when she was first married, she lived in a small town in Japan, and she worked in a bank. Another bank in the town had been having problems with a group of asian foreigners in the area, who had been stealing people's bags. So my teacher's banks put up posters warning people "この地域の外人泥棒に気を付けなさい"、or something like that. But the picture of the 'gaijin' on the poster was an American and looked just like my teacher! So people would see the poster, then see my teacher in the bank, and think she was the thief. When she complained that the poster was misleading, the bank said, "it's just warning about those bad gaijin. Anyone can tell you're a good gaijin!"

They did change the poster in the end, but she said it was very odd doing her job right under this big sign that said that people like her were thieves!

I hope it was long time ago and it doesn’t happen now.

[YuriTokoro]

Originally Posted by mandalina

Here, like most of out of politeness acts "holding to door for the person coming after" changes from people to people I think. Some can wait for you holding the door or you can find yourself face to face with the door.

Hi, mandalina.
I don’t understand what you mean.

like most of out of politeness acts "holding to door for the person coming after" changes from people to people

The subject is ‘like most of out of politeness acts "holding to door for the person coming after"’. Is that right?
“It changes from people to people” means “It varies with individuals”?
So you mean that some people hold the door for the person coming after, while some other people don’t. Is that right?

[JamboP26]

I held the door open for somebody in my class yesterday, and they said thanks, even though they were on the phone. From reading these posts, I get the feeling this wouldn't happen in Japan. Please tell me I'm wrong, although it'll not bother me if its true

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by YuriTokoro

Osaka! I SEE! They would bawl.
Some people say that Osaka people are not Japanese, but Osaka-jin.
Their language is different from the Japanese language.
Osaka is not rural, but I don’t think they act like Japanese.
I like Osaka, but I can’t live there even if I want because I can’t speak like them.

I found Osaka-ben difficult too sometimes, but the people I met were a lot of fun

Originally Posted by YuriTokoro

I don’t think both Sendai and Yamagata are big city.
My relatives live in Yamagata and I have been there many times. I’m sure that Yamagata is really rural.

I just looked it up, and Yamagata city is smaller than I thought it was. Sendai has a population of over 1 million though, so I still think that's a big city.

Originally Posted by YuriTokoro

I hope it was long time ago and it doesn’t happen now.

Me too. I haven't heard anything like that recently.

[YuriTokoro]

Originally Posted by Columbine

I found Osaka-ben difficult too sometimes, but the people I met were a lot of fun

They are too funny!!!
Many Japanese comedians are from Osaka. They speak in Osaka-ben.
All Japanese people understand their language because we see they speaking in TV every day. But I can’t speak in their way.
They are really funny. They have talent of comedy.

I just looked it up, and Yamagata city is smaller than I thought it was. Sendai has a population of over 1 million though, so I still think that's a big city.

Sendai is bigger than Yamagata, but I don’t think it’s urban.
I may have some prejudices about country cities.
I was born in Tokyo and now live in Kanagawa.
(Tokyo is only 15 minutes walk from my house.)
When I go to Sendai, the town seems to be rural to me.

[JamboP26]

I suppose the similar example in the UK, is regional accents. People from the North-east speak 'Geordie', people from London speak 'Cockney', people from Birmingham speak 'Brummie', people from Liverpool speak 'Scouse' and people from Glasgow speak 'Glaswegian' (sometimes shortened to 'Weggie'). I can actually understand anyone speak English in these accents, unless the Cockney-fellow is using Cockney rhyming slang. lol. Although if I was to use a number of Scots-English words, I'm sure I could confuse you. lol

[YuriTokoro]

Originally Posted by JamboP26

I suppose the similar example in the UK, is regional accents. People from the North-east speak 'Geordie', people from London speak 'Cockney', people from Birmingham speak 'Brummie', people from Liverpool speak 'Scouse' and people from Glasgow speak 'Glaswegian' (sometimes shortened to 'Weggie'). I can actually understand anyone speak English in these accents, unless the Cockney-fellow is using Cockney rhyming slang. lol. Although if I was to use a number of Scots-English words, I'm sure I could confuse you. lol

Hi.
I didn’t know there were so many kinds of English in England.
Then, I wouldn’t be able to communicate with the people, even if I learned English.
How different between Cockney and Standard English?

I admit that Japan has the same trouble, and many people around Tokyo don’t understand the language in the East-north part of Japan.
Recently I heard one of them speak in TV. He said “12”. It’s “jyuhni” in Japanese, but he said “zuhnu”.

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by YuriTokoro

Hi.
I didn’t know there were so many kinds of English in England.
Then, I wouldn’t be able to communicate with the people, even if I learned English.
How different between Cockney and Standard English?

I admit that Japan has the same trouble, and many people around Tokyo don’t understand the language in the East-north part of Japan.
Recently I heard one of them speak in TV. He said “12”. It’s “jyuhni” in Japanese, but he said “zuhnu”.

Cockney English has a lot of different sounds. It's more from the front of the mouth than the throat, and breathier. They drop sounds a lot too:

They becomes 'dey'
Brother becomes 'bruvver'
Maths becomes 'maffs'
Path becomes 'parf'
Happy become 'appy'
Clapham (a place name) becomes 'Cla'am'
Jumped up becomes 'jampt'ap'

Grammar differences include using 'me' instead of 'my', and 'a'int' instead of isn't. "Nah, dat ain't right," would be "No, that isn't right" in standard English.

And of course, the rhyming slang. Rhyming slang is calling something by a phrase that rhymes with it.
So:
Dog and bone = telephone
Plates of meat = feet
Apples and pears= stairs

But sometimes they drop part of the phrase, so you'd hear people say "ooh, me plates 'urt." for 'ooh, my feet hurt!', or "Just 'ead on ap dose apples" for "just head on up those stairs"

[YuriTokoro]

Originally Posted by Columbine

Cockney English has a lot of different sounds. It's more from the front of the mouth than the throat, and breathier. They drop sounds a lot too:

They becomes 'dey'
Brother becomes 'bruvver'
Maths becomes 'maffs'
Path becomes 'parf'
Happy become 'appy'
Clapham (a place name) becomes 'Cla'am'
Jumped up becomes 'jampt'ap'

Grammar differences include using 'me' instead of 'my', and 'a'int' instead of isn't. "Nah, dat ain't right," would be "No, that isn't right" in standard English.

And of course, the rhyming slang. Rhyming slang is calling something by a phrase that rhymes with it.
So:
Dog and bone = telephone
Plates of meat = feet
Apples and pears= stairs

But sometimes they drop part of the phrase, so you'd hear people say "ooh, me plates 'urt." for 'ooh, my feet hurt!', or "Just 'ead on ap dose apples" for "just head on up those stairs"

Really!?
People speak like that in London!?
It would not sound English…
Then, who speak Standard English???

Thank you for your detailed explanation, Columbine.

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by YuriTokoro

Really!?
People speak like that in London!?
It would not sound English…
Then, who speak Standard English???

Thank you for your detailed explanation, Columbine.

~Some~ people speak like that, from certain ~parts~ of london. A true cockney accent isn't so common, but it's mostly from area called the East End of London.

A cockney accent is a very strong accent, so it has a lot of differences. I speak standard English, but I have a slight south western accent. It's not so strong that people automatically know where I'm from, but I don't always speak with 100% of a standard accent. Lots of people speak standard english, but with various small differences from 'textbook' english. And lots of people speak with very strong accents, so sound very different from standard English.