Dialects - a bit of video fun

[Nyororin]

I`ve seen various references to different dialects in Japan, and some interest into how hard (or not) they are to understand.

I remembered a short video I have of some relatives talking to each other which has some great examples of the difference in dialects in just a very small area. One of them is from the Echizen coast, one of them is from Wakasa, and one of them is from the Fukui city area. I can understand them without any problem as I am exposed to those dialects on a regular basis - but it might be interesting for early learners to see just how different some regional accents are... And a bit of fun for more advanced learners to figure out what they`re talking about.

Dialect video

[JohnBraden]

I couldn't understand a thing, but that's not surprising.... I thought the girl was adorable!

[masaegu]

I will not say much lest I might spoil the fun for the Japanese-learners but permit me to say that this is an incredibly valuable video. It is like encountering three different European languages in a very small area.

One of the three dialects spoken is clearly Kansai-influenced and at least one of the remaining two is so heavily Eastern-Japan-influenced. Simply stunning!

[KyleGoetz]

Is the woman on the left more Kanto and the woman on the right more Kansai? And the old man talking in some wacky dialect.

I heard the woman on the right use stuff like やろう instead of だろう, so clearly Kansai-influenced as masaegu was talking about. The woman on the left sounds most 標準語 of all three to me. I found it quite easy to pick up on what she was saying (except I guess since I don't know the context, I'm not 100%). The woman on the right took a bit of thinking, and I still couldn't pick up on much of it (I know if I understand 標準語, understanding her speech shouldn't be all that difficult, but my ear has been out of Japanese-listening commission for so long here in Texas!).

The old man? Hell if I understood much of anything. I think he said something about ワァ〜と言った at some point or イヤー or something. No idea.

Thanks for the video, Nyororin!

[Nyororin]

The woman on the left grew up a bit outside Fukui city, and currently works in the city so is in the most contact with 標準語.
The woman on the right was born and grew up along the 越前 coast.
The man is from western 敦賀, but has been living along the coast for the past 40 years or so.

None of them are 関東 in any way shape or form. They were all born and have spent the majority of their lives in a single, rather small, area.

Supposedly, or at least it is said in linguistic circles, that the dialects of Fukui are the closest to the dialects of Japanese in use in Kyoto while it was the capital. There tend to be a lot of scholars of classical Japanese from the area - whether that is because it is actually easier for them or whether it is a placebo effect though... I can`t say.
The area has shown very little change in dialect from outside influence, and many of the more isolated areas had little contact with everyone else from the time when groups of people were brought up to the area in the 14th century until around the 1950s when they blasted tunnels through to the coast and then when television came through.

It is also supposed to be one of the areas in Japan where the dialect is most evident in all interchanges. In other areas that have strong dialects, it is normal for people to tone them down or switch over to 標準語 when speaking to someone from elsewhere or in formal exchanges. The level of dialect is also usually much lower the younger you look... That doesn`t really happen much in Fukui. The dialect is used everywhere by nearly everyone.

[KyleGoetz]

And now it's interesting to actually look more at a map of where this all occurs. Especially because (as Nyororin well knows) the story I'm translating involves three people traveling from Wakasa, through Kato and Seihama (which is just called 勢 in the story), to the eastern side of Obama.

I really was only prepared to understand the lady on the right at all because of the dialect patterns captured in the story.

One thing I wonder about: Would someone with a thick accent refer to typhus as チブス instead of チフス? A character does this in the story, but I assumed it's just because it's WWII era, and the character is a hick without much education.

[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by KyleGoetz

And now it's interesting to actually look more at a map of where this all occurs. Especially because (as Nyororin well knows) the story I'm translating involves three people traveling from Wakasa, through Kato and Seihama (which is just called 勢 in the story), to the eastern side of Obama.

This is pretty much why I posted it today. Your other post with a mention of 若狭 in it reminded me.

One thing I wonder about: Would someone with a thick accent refer to typhus as チブス instead of チフス? A character does this in the story, but I assumed it's just because it's WWII era, and the character is a hick without much education.

Typhus isn`t really something encountered these days so I definitely can`t say I`ve encountered the word in everyday use... But a quick dictionary check shows that チブス is a valid variation. There is a good chance that it was in wide use at one point. A look around the net turns this up, which definitely doesn`t support it being dialectal or uneducated.

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

This is pretty much why I posted it today. Your other post with a mention of 若狭 in it reminded me.



Typhus isn`t really something encountered these days so I definitely can`t say I`ve encountered the word in everyday use... But a quick dictionary check shows that チブス is a valid variation. There is a good chance that it was in wide use at one point. A look around the net turns this up, which definitely doesn`t support it being dialectal or uneducated.

Cool, thanks! Now I get to ponder over whether I should try to distinguish the father's "hick" pronunciation of the disease with the son's "educated, authorial" pronunciation.

Maybe by having one call it "typhus" and the other "typhoid."

[SHAD0W]

Haha! Wow! I Picked up some random vocab but understood nothing. Especially when the old man spoke. I had that Problem when speaking with my host ojiisan.. Very mumbly to my ears. Awesome stuff though! Thanks, Nyororin!

[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by KyleGoetz

Cool, thanks! Now I get to ponder over whether I should try to distinguish the father's "hick" pronunciation of the disease with the son's "educated, authorial" pronunciation.

Maybe by having one call it "typhus" and the other "typhoid."

I would be very careful about characterizing dialects and accents as "hick" or uneducated. It would be along the lines of, say, characterizing anyone who lives in the Southern US as being hick or uneducated. Some areas just have stronger and more obvious accents - differing from the standard accent doesn`t mean uneducated. Especially when it is presented as spoken dialogue.

Oh, and typhoid is a completely different illness that isn`t related to typhus. If the character is saying チブス instead of チフス, they`re just using an older word for the illness.