i can personally vouch for that one about using dialects. while in kyoto and osaka, i made a habit of saying little things like ookini (thanks in kansai-ben) and the shopkeepers were borderline shocked and would always smile and then say something about how good my japanese was (it's not) or that it was so nice to hear me using kansai-ben. same goes with saying goodbye a couple times and using hona mata (instead of ja).

stehr Wrote:

bodhisamaya Wrote:

nest0r Wrote:2 Bowing on the telephone 88.1

If I ever become this Japanese, somebody shoot me!

I second this.

I catch myself doing it all the time. Should I be shot? :o

alyks Wrote:Wouldn't that be interesting? To be so immersed in a different culture that you forget your old habits? I wonder, if one were to completely stop using their native tongue after becoming an adult and went live in a foreign country for 20 years, would they forget their native tongue?

I saw a program here in Japan about a guy who fought for Japan during WWII. He was from Tokyo, joined the army and was sent to the Russian front at the age of 18. He ended up being separated from his unit, captured, and never returned even after the end of the war (if you know your history, you'll know that the Japanese government didn't try too terribly hard to find its WWII MIA's).

When he was finally tracked down by extended family, he was in his 70's or thereabouts - and no longer spoke any Japanese.

But then, if you think about it, he'd been speaking Russian 52-some-odd years to his 18 years of Japanese. It really only makes sense.

I've lately been getting worried, though. Even when I'm speaking English, I'll give lots of 'conversational feedback' in the form of ええ's and ハハハッ's and ふうん's.

EnjukuBlack Wrote:

stehr Wrote:

bodhisamaya Wrote:If I ever become this Japanese, somebody shoot me!

I second this.

I catch myself doing it all the time. Should I be shot? :o

It is for your own good. I am not allowed to kill you myself but if you would like my help, I can hire a hitman. Lend me 百万円?

bodhisamaya Wrote:

EnjukuBlack Wrote:

stehr Wrote:I second this.

I catch myself doing it all the time. Should I be shot? :o

It is for your own good. I am not allowed to kill you myself but if you would like my help, I can hire a hitman. Lend me 百万円?

Oh, well, I don't usually like to lend out money, but ok.

Just make sure you pay it back...

urpwnd Wrote:i can personally vouch for that one about using dialects. while in kyoto and osaka, i made a habit of saying little things like ookini (thanks in kansai-ben) and the shopkeepers were borderline shocked and would always smile and then say something about how good my japanese was (it's not) or that it was so nice to hear me using kansai-ben. same goes with saying goodbye a couple times and using hona mata (instead of ja).

Dude, I've been seriously tempted to learn the kansai dialect. D: I love it so much it is beautiful.
I'm not sure it would be such a great idea, though...

kaoskastle Wrote:

urpwnd Wrote:i can personally vouch for that one about using dialects. while in kyoto and osaka, i made a habit of saying little things like ookini (thanks in kansai-ben) and the shopkeepers were borderline shocked and would always smile and then say something about how good my japanese was (it's not) or that it was so nice to hear me using kansai-ben. same goes with saying goodbye a couple times and using hona mata (instead of ja).

Dude, I've been seriously tempted to learn the kansai dialect. D: I love it so much it is beautiful.
I'm not sure it would be such a great idea, though...

Just imagine a Japanese person speaking in a heavy southern US drawl.

This is how you will seem to the Japanese.

Kansai in Japan and 'The South' in the US do not fill the same cultural slot.

True, but they both speak in a way that wouldn't be expected of foreigners.

playadom Wrote:Just imagine a Japanese person speaking in a heavy southern US drawl.

This is how you will seem to the Japanese.

The dean of my university in Japan sounded like John Wayne when he spoke English. Everyone laughed when he gave his 入学式 speech.

Since I've spent all my time in Japan here in the Kansai area, there are times when I couldn't really tell you what is Kansai dialect and what is standard dialect.

I know that people are inevitably shocked when they first hear me speaking Japanese (わっ！大阪弁や！) But with people that you work and play with on a daily basis, I think they really appreciate the fact that you have managed to assimilate yourself to such a degree (you know, "When in Rome..." or, 「郷に入らば郷に従え」).

Besides, most Kansai people find the Tokyo dialect to be grating on the nerves. Such that friends and coworkers will correct any vestigial remains of standard dialect in my speech, informing me of the 'proper' way to say it (in Osaka dialect, of course - 「あれは東京弁やねん。しょうもなぁから、大阪弁で言っとき。」).

I like Kansai ben a lot, but I wouldn't want to speak it personally (I would like to be ABLE to speak it if I wanted to though ).

I mean, it's the dialect of humor in Japan, telling jokes in it is perfect but having a serious conversation in it... not so much.

playadom Wrote:Just imagine a Japanese person speaking in a heavy southern US drawl.

This is how you will seem to the Japanese.

Haha, odd that you say that considering I was just thinking this very thing last night and thinking "ohhh. Yeah, that would be really weird."
But it's such a cool dialect. D:

urpwnd Wrote:i can personally vouch for that one about using dialects. while in kyoto and osaka, i made a habit of saying little things like ookini (thanks in kansai-ben) and the shopkeepers were borderline shocked and would always smile and then say something about how good my japanese was (it's not) or that it was so nice to hear me using kansai-ben. same goes with saying goodbye a couple times and using hona mata (instead of ja).

I get soooooooo much mileage out of using "metcha" I actually use it all the time as most of my friends in NZ are from Fukuoka and Oosaka

I hate めちゃ... but mostly because some girls I hung around overused it like crazy. Then again, everytime I say the words めちゃ, なんか, 本当 (or 本間) I am really reminded of them as those were like every other word in their sentences. heh...

I was under the impression that was a pretty girlish expression, but that might just be coming from the source of my massive exposure to it (two girls in their early 20s).

Anyways, yeah - Kansai-ben is cool though. I didn't know Japanese when I came to Japan, so I learned 本間に before 本当に and didn't realize for quite a while that it was a regional expression. Living outside of that area now, it still slips out sometimes in (usually drunken) conversation.

Speaking of Kansai-ben... there's a famous tongue/brain twister because of it. Maybe some of you know this already. Anyways, in Kansai-ben ちがう becomes ちゃう. The name for the dog chow chow in Japanese is チャウチャウ. You can use ちゃう to mean something like "isn't that?" with a rising intonation or to mean "no" with a flat/falling intonation. And you can say it twice and it sounds pretty informal. So anyways...

In English:
Person 1: Isn't that a chow chow?
Person 2: No, it's not.

In Kansai-ben Japanese:
Person 1: チャウチャウ、ちゃう？
Person 2: チャウチャウ、ちゃうちゃう。

By pure happenstance, after reading about post-tub milk in this thread, I was watching some dorama and ran across a bath scene... starts about 2:30 into it:

http://www.mysoju.com/3-peace/episode-2/part-2/

igordesu Wrote:lol, dang and I got the natto down too. I LOVE natto.

wow, and you have to click the link on that page and watch the video on youtube with the bicycle bell. THAT is hilarious...

wow, it's hilarious... in a good way! but how polite the ppl are is really cool, they all just move out of ur way, WOW! did u notice the old man with school back bag? lol

OK - there it is again... at about 5:37 into the video: fruits gyuu

http://www.mysoju.com/a-sleeping-forest/...-1/part-4/

Another good way to surprise Japanese people is to sing a famous enka song at a karaoke. Try "Tsugaru kaikyou fuyu geshiki" for example

etpan Wrote:Another good way to surprise Japanese people is to sing a famous enka song at a karaoke. Try "Tsugaru kaikyou fuyu geshiki" for example

I actually like that song, but I always sing 島田のブンブン - a little more obscure, but accordingly gets even stranger looks.

I don't know how many times I've heard "Why do you know that song?!?" :o

playadom Wrote:

kaoskastle Wrote:

urpwnd Wrote:i can personally vouch for that one about using dialects. while in kyoto and osaka, i made a habit of saying little things like ookini (thanks in kansai-ben) and the shopkeepers were borderline shocked and would always smile and then say something about how good my japanese was (it's not) or that it was so nice to hear me using kansai-ben. same goes with saying goodbye a couple times and using hona mata (instead of ja).

Dude, I've been seriously tempted to learn the kansai dialect. D: I love it so much it is beautiful.
I'm not sure it would be such a great idea, though...

Just imagine a Japanese person speaking in a heavy southern US drawl.

This is how you will seem to the Japanese.

I was once served in a Chinese restaurant in Antwerp by a Chinese waiter who looked Chinese but spoke a purest Antwerp dialect of Flemish. Not so suprising, considering that's where he was born and bred, most probably, but it surely looked weird as the sound just didn't match the picture!