fukuokaben ni tsuite

[Josh_]

ohayoo minasan. josh desu.

i'm planning to go to fukuoka city, and yesterday i was a little disheartened to learn that they have their own dialect. i was just wondering if this means that all my hard work learning japanese has basically been for nothing if i want to live in fukuoka. how different are the dialects to the main language? does anyone speak fukuoka ben?
im going to do a jap language course there for the first 2 or 3 months (where ill be speaking mainstream japanese), and i was thinking maybe i could just stay in fukuoka for 6 months or so, learn a little bit of fukuoka ben, and then move on somewhere else.

i dont know what to do. can anyone help?

arigatou. josh.

[Robato]

dont be disheartened if anything embrace it!!
it wont effect you at an early stage of learning anyway.
theres standard japanese and its taught and learnt throughout japan wherever you go.people will use generally language that is understood.
theres ben of all sorts in japan so just get there .it will be alright. its like saying to someone i am going to learn english in scotland!!! oh no!! or in ireland oh no!! the most important thing is good teaching and a good recognised school. fukuoka is agreat place went once only .im sure you wil get more posts about this.

[kichigaijin]

at least fukuoka ben will still be recognizable as japanese.
Feel lucky that you aren't in Okinawa or Hokkaido, learning uchinaguchi or whatever language the ainu speak. I learn uchinaguchi, and i love it, but it's not japanese, nobody would really recognize it as just being a "ben".

"ben" is kinda like having an accent and some colloquialisms. similar to phrases like "ya'all" or "howdy" from Texas in the US; ie something that while people don't use, they could probably guess the meaning if they heard it in context. Just like most Americans can take a stab at most regional dialects from AUS and the UK; unless it's that cockney stuff.

one good thing about it being Fukuoka is that Fukuoka people (men & women) tend to talk with a really "manly" accent. Definitely much better than coming back with something girly.

[Bueller_007]

The Ainu speak Japanese as a native language. And Hokkaido Japanese is generally considered to be the closest Japanese to 標準語 that there is outside of Tokyo, although there are a few colloquialisms, like using the word "mainland" to refer to Honshu (which they also do in Okinawa).

And I would say that you've drastically underestimated the difference between Japanese dialects. I really doubt that most people could understand "ええかげんにしいや" or "よういわんわ" if they weren't already intimately familiar with Osaka-ben. And Osaka-ben is relatively easy compared to, say, Kagoshima-ben.

[kichigaijin]

i'm talking indigenous ainu language from back in the day; though for all I know their language may be completely gone (been rapidly dying since 1940).
Examples:
http://ramat.ram.ne.jp/ainu/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ainu_language
http://linguistics.byu.edu/classes/ling ... s/ainu.htm
http://arabiatimes.tripod.com/ainu.htm
http://www.raccoonbend.com/languages/ainuenglish.html

I was told that they referred to "mainlander" japanese as "naicha" or "naichi" which is the same word in ryukyuan uchinaguchi. Looking through those sites, there seems to be little in common.

ethnically ryukyu and (i'd imagine to a lesser extent these days) ainu are different than "mainlander" japanese; both being more similar to each other than to "mainlanders".

[kichigaijin]

And I would say that you've drastically underestimated the difference between Japanese dialects. I really doubt that most people could understand "ええかげんにしいや" or "よういわんわ" if they weren't already intimately familiar with Osaka-ben. And Osaka-ben is relatively easy compared to, say, Kagoshima-ben.

umm i don't speak a bit of osaka ben, besides maybe "おもろい”　and I can see an obvious similarity between ええかげんにしいや and いいかげんにしろ
Granted　よういわんわ　is a little bit harder, 「どうしようもないな」,「どうしろっていうんだ」,「あきれてものがいえないな」,「開いた口がふさがらないぜ」,「かなわんな」,「まいったな」,「あきらめました」,「私の負けです」; but i'm sure there's an explanation to get from point A to point B.

Uchinaguchi, like ainu has sounds that most other japanese can't pull off.
In uchinaguchi's case:
a tuu sound like "two"
a tee sound like the last syllable of "committee"
Not only that, but the grammar has a completely different structure.

チャー　ガンジュー　ヤビーミタイ？　（チャーガンジュー）
トゥバッテル
ナーティーチェ
ニヘー　デービル

Stumbled across a nice little write up of Hakata ben (Fukuoka dialect):
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Japanese/Hougen/Kyushu

Kagoshima ben's a strange beast; but i would be willing to wager (a small amount hehe) that there's greater difference across the 6 languages of the Ryukyu islands (notably Miyako Jima) than Kagoshima from the Tokyo standard.

[NickT]

I am in Fukuoka right now, and honestly I can't tell any difference between the way people here speak and the way they speak in Tokyo or Osaka. At least, when they speak directly to me - When they speak to each other it can be hard to follow. I can understand most people quite well, and people can understand me. Maybe it is just because they see I am a foreigner and speak to me in 標準語.

I think where ever you go in Japan, people will recognise you as a foreigner and won't speak to you using a heavy accent or using obscure slang, unless you come across as a really fluent speaker. Even then, they will probably be "polite" and therefore stick to standard Japanese.

Fukuoka is a great city, I can't recommend it enough. I really don't think you will come out with a strong accent after 6 months.

Incidentially, the most fluent 日本人English speaker I have met since I got here was a girl in Osaka who lived for a year in Ireland. She spoke perfectly, with only a slight Japanese accent and no Irish accent at all. I think accents and dialects are over-rated personally, if you speak good English you will be understood anywhere in the world - If you learn to speak good Japanese you will be understood perfectly all over Japan.

[Robato]

Good reply Nick T.

Fukuoka will be a good place to learn .

[Josh_]

thanks so much for the replies guys. robato - i think youre right. i do just have to jump in and embrace it. its just the worry of having to commit to a certain place (if im booking a jet course) for an extended period of time. ive had so many reccomendations about fukuoka though.
nickT - where are you in fukuoka? what are you doing there? will you be there long?

[Robato]

Josh glad the replies help which is why this is a great forum to always check. Many people on this japanese pod101 who all have different experiences to share.

Back to Fukuoka .I am considering going there later in the year.
As I said been only once before .Others who live there will no doubt give you even better pointers.

Forget the language thing now and put your energies towards the amazing opportunities you have now to discover Kyushu. When you live in Japan you will realsie that quite a lot of Japanese themselves havent visited that many places.Its usualy cos of cost, time, interest,working alot is abig reason.I have been to many more different places than my Japanese friends.Its often the case when you are a visitor, also most of us learning a different culture and language are just more keen to see and discover the places there while we can.

You are going to a lace that have some of the best onsens , shochu, lamen, islands ,scenery,temples, +++++++there wont be too many foreigners like you have in Tokyo, you are in a better place to learn japanese i think cos less foreigners .Too easy to speak English in Japan esp in Tokyo. Also all the nice folk in Kyushu are proud and rightly so and they will never want to feel and pick up on the I am in Fukuoka and is it not better to learn somewhere else.Make sure you dont convey that. anyway enjoy you will not look back. Robato

[Josh_]

thanks mate. yeah, i will. right now ive started looking at a jet programme. the applications for next year are starting in september, and fingers crossed i can manage to get one in fukuoka or somewhere close. anyway, im going to book a language course with either genkijacs or asahi nihongo for a few months beforehand. my japanese teacher here in melbourne just happens to be from fukuoka, and she might visit when im there, which would be awesome.

anyway, im rambling.

good luck if you do go this year.

genki de
Josh