Japanese message PLEASE READ

[tsukimoon]

So Kansai is the... less standard dialect? I know this guy who went to school in Japan for a year last year (so jealous but I'll live) and he was telling me about how he likes one of the dialects better than standard Japanese and that he speaks that. He said that while he was there he would get looks like "who is this foreigner walking around in Tokyo and speaking like a (southerner i think)"

Is Kansai likely what he was talking about?

[Nagoyankee]

Originally Posted by tsukimoon

So Kansai is the... less standard dialect? I know this guy who went to school in Japan for a year last year (so jealous but I'll live) and he was telling me about how he likes one of the dialects better than standard Japanese and that he speaks that. He said that while he was there he would get looks like "who is this foreigner walking around in Tokyo and speaking like a (southerner i think)"

Is Kansai likely what he was talking about?

Probably yes, but I have to hear him speak to be sure.

There are so many dialects as Japan is a highly mountaneous country. Before the days of radio and TV, large mountains and wide rivers seriously prevented people from communicating with each other. You simple didn't speak like the guys in the next town. But you didn't have to because not many people had to travel across natural boundaries back then.

Today people can communicate with one another because everyone is taught the same style of sppech in schools and because we all watch the same TV programs and such. However, we still do speak dialects at home, which I'm sure would be the case in many other countries. You just wont hear as much dialect in formal or professional situations.

[chryuop]

Originally Posted by Nagoyankee

Probably yes, but I have to hear him speak to be sure.

There are so many dialects as Japan is a highly mountaneous country. Before the days of radio and TV, large mountains and wide rivers seriously prevented people from communicating with each other. You simple didn't speak like the guys in the next town. But you didn't have to because not many people had to travel across natural boundaries back then.

Today people can communicate with one another because everyone is taught the same style of sppech in schools and because we all watch the same TV programs and such. However, we still do speak dialects at home, which I'm sure would be the case in many other countries. You just wont hear as much dialect in formal or professional situations.

For sure this thing of the dialects in Japan is very interesting. I can understand the dialects in my country. Italy for centuries had been conquered in pieces. One part from France, one part from Austria, Hispanic, Arabic and so on. That makes it clear why we have so many dialects which are actually very different languages with completely different words (some of them with actually different grammar). But I can't see the same reason for this happening in Japan. Having Japanese people the same root, I can see a slight difference in dialects, but it is hard to understand (for someone outside of Japan) the reason of so many dialects.

[tsukimoon]

Originally Posted by chryuop

For sure this thing of the dialects in Japan is very interesting. I can understand the dialects in my country. Italy for centuries had been conquered in pieces. One part from France, one part from Austria, Hispanic, Arabic and so on. That makes it clear why we have so many dialects which are actually very different languages with completely different words (some of them with actually different grammar). But I can't see the same reason for this happening in Japan. Having Japanese people the same root, I can see a slight difference in dialects, but it is hard to understand (for someone outside of Japan) the reason of so many dialects.

Yeah, I think that the development of dialects is very interesting. Also I think it's cool how they developed within Japan... like, how the language is fundamentally the same even though as was said, the people were so isolated from each other, as well as from the rest of the world.