Difference in Dialects
 

So... I'm in the second semester of my first year of Japanese at my university, and I'm having a hard time understanding the main differences between the dialect that I'm learning (Kyoto dialect) and Tokyo dialect. Is there much difference to native speakers, and what exactly are the main differences?

If you are in the second semester of your first year of Japanese you should not even begin to concern yourself with different dialects. You should be learning hyojungo (標準語) only. This is standard Japanese, sometimes thought of as "Tokyo dialect". Messing around with Kansai dialects now will only confuse you down the line.

Not only that, it will do you no good in any of the Japanese language aptitude exams.

今夜が山田！！！！！！

Huh?
.........................

That's a line from the variety show ダウンタウンのガキの使いやあらへんで！！on 日テレ.

lol spot on! it is indeed. Its the only "dialectual" japanese i know :)

But that's not dialectical. It just means "Tonight is Yamada." I watch that show, but I don't remember that "memorable" line.

It's not so much that I'm concerned about it, I'm just sort of curious about the differences; like if they're grammatical or more of an accent type thing like English spoken in England vs. the US.

It's a combination of everything from grammar to accent, from words themselves to sentence endings, etc. The differences are almost always much greater than Japanese-learners abroad tend to think.

I spent the first half of my life in Nagoya and the latter half in Tokyo. The distance between the two cities is shorter than that between L.A. and Frisco in California. The differences between the two dialects, however, are much greater than those between L.A. and Atlanta. This is why I had no choice but to learn the Tokyo dialect and become bidialectal.

My son, who was born and raised in mid-town Tokyo only speaks the Tokyo dialect. When we go to Nagoya for the holidays and my son talks to his cousins there, he sometimes has to ask them to repeat or rephrase what they have said. Thanks to TV and school, his Nagoya cousins, grand-parents, etc. can translate what they've said into a Tokyo-ish speech whenever he doesn't understand.

When I go to places like Aomori and Akita in the north, I don't understand more than 10-20% of what two older locals say to each other. But then, you have no trouble communicating in hotels, shops, stations, airports, etc. They will switch to a more standard-ish Japanese for you.