Tohoku-Ben

Here are some common words used in the Tohoku region.

be or -bē - as volitional suffix
~dabe? - right?
abe - let's go (polite)

o-ban desu - good evening (pronounced "oban dezū")
menkoi - cute
igisupe - let's go
nepute - I am sleepy
neppe - let's go to sleep
iine - okay
oksaki su su - see you later
n'demada - see you later
hon de - see you later
omyounichi - see you tomorrow
kekkara - I'm going home
gaotta - I'm tired (impolite)
gotttsosama - thank you for the meal
dacchya - right?
sa - used in place of the standard ni or e (particle indicating direction)
ora - I/me (male)
adashi - I/me (female)
odottsan - father
ogattsan - mother

Dialects of Tōhoku

    Northern Tohoku

          Tsugaru-ben (Wastern of area Aomori)
          Nambu-ben (Eastern area of Aomori)
          Shimokita-ben (Northeastern area of Aomori)
          Iwate-ben (Nka-ben (Morioka city)
          Akita-benorth)
                + Morio
          Shonai-ben (Northwestern area of Yamagata)

    Southern Tohoku

          Sendai-ben (Miyagi)
          Iwate-ben (South)
                + Kesen-ben or Kesen language (Southeastern area of Iwate)
          Murayama-ben or Yamagata-ben (Center area of Yamagata)
          Okitama-ben or Yonezawa-ben (Southern area of Yamagata)
          Mogami-ben or Shinjo-ben (Northeastern area of Yamagata)
          Fukushima-ben
                Fushima-ben (Center area of Fukushima)
                Aizu-ben (Western of Fukushima)

Tsugaru-ben

Tsugaru-ben is spoken in Tsugaru district (western of Aomori prefecture). Tsugaru-ben is famously reputed to be too divergent from Standard Japanese for those who are not native speakers, to the point that even people living in the same prefecture may have trouble understanding it. In 1988, Tsugaru-ben fans proclaimed October 23 to be "Tsugaru-ben Day".

Some words in Tsugaru-ben

    wa - I, formal first person pronoun
    na - you, formal second person pronoun
    ome - you, informal second person pronoun
    katcha - mother
    totcha - father
    anzumashii - it feels nice, comfortable
    waiha - oh!
    dondanzu - oh my god!
    maine - no way
    honzunashi - idiot, stupid
    joppari - obstinate person
    hande - because
    hebana - goodbye

Kantō-ben

Kantō-ben has some common features to Tohoku dialect such as "-be" or "-nbe", East Kanto dialect is especially similar to Tohoku dialect. Tokyo and the suburbs' local dialects are steadily declining because Standard Japanese has spread in Kanto earlier than other districts.

Dialects of Kanto

    Western Kanto

          Tokyo-ben
                Yamanote-kotoba (Old upper class dialect)
                Shitamachi-kotoba or Edo-ben (Old working class dialect)
          Tama-ben (Western area of Tokyo)
          Saitama-ben
                Chichibu-ben
          Gunma-ben or Jōshū-ben
          Kanagawa-ben
          Bōshū-ben (Southern area of Chiba)

    Eastern Kanto

          Ibaraki-ben
          Tochigi-ben
          Chiba-ben

Ibaraki

Ibaraki dialect, Ibaraki-ben, is characterized by dakuten insertion, effecting a voiced syllable. For example, byōki, illness, becomes something like byōgi. Also characteristic of Ibaraki-ben in many areas is a decreased distinction between i and e sounds, so that iro enpitsu becomes ero inpitsu among many speakers. The final particles ppe, be, and he are perhaps most well-known. They derive from literary beshi (now beki in standard Japanese). The pitch accent of Ibaraki dialect is also fairly different from standard Japanese, typically rising at the end of statements and falling in questions. Below are a few words which are rather ubiquitous among speakers of the Ibaraki dialect:

    anme—related to literary aru mai, and to nai darō in standard Japanese, meaning "(I suppose) not". Its opposite is appe, from aru and ppe
    arutte—walking (instead of aruite)
    daiji—daijōbu in standard Japanese, meaning "alright", and unrelated to the identically-pronounced standard word for "important"
    dere(suke)—lazy foolish person
    goja((ra)ppe)—silly foolish person
    medo—hole
    -me—suffix for small animals (e.g. hē-me, "fly"; kan-me, "turtle"); used differently from the abusive -me in standard Japanese
    odome—child

Tokyo

The speech of modern Tokyo is often considered to equate standard Japanese (hyōjungo), though in fact Tokyo dialect differs from hyōjungo in a number of areas. Noticeable earmarks of Tokyo dialect include the frequent use of さ (sa, roughly analogous to "like" as used in American English slang),　じゃん (jan, a contraction of じゃないか ja nai ka, "Isn't that right?", jan is originally Shizuoka and Kanagawa dialects' word) and つう (tsuu) in place of -と言う (— to iu, "to say —" or "is called —"). It is also not uncommon for Tokyo dialect to change the -いる (-iru) stem of the present progressive to -ん (-n), as in つってんのー　(tsutten nō, "[someone] is saying") versus と言っているのよ (to itte iru no yo) of standard Japanese.

Edo-ben

Edo-ben or Shitamachi-kotoba, the fast-fading dialect of old families from Eastern Tokyo called "Shitamachi" (This means "low-lying towns") , is another example of a Tokyo dialect that differs from standard Japanese. This dialect is primarily known for the inability to pronounce or distinguish some phonemes which are considered wholly distinct in all other Japanese dialects. Most famous is the decreased distinction between "hi" and "shi", so that "hidoi" (terrible) becomes "shidoi", and "shichi" (seven) becomes "hichi". Though it also includes a few distinctive words, today it is largely indistinguishable from the standard speech of Tokyo other than the phonemic difference.

Tokai-Tosan-ben

Tokai-Tosan dialect is separated into three groups:
   Nagano, Yamanashi, and Shizuoka.
   Echigo.
   Gifu, and Aichi.

Dialects of Nagano, Yamanashi, and Shizuoka

    Nagano-ben or Shinshū-ben
          Okushin (Northernmost area of Nagano)
          Hokushin (Northern area of Nagano)
          Tōshin (Eastern area of Nagano)
          Chūshin (Central area of Nagano)
          Nanshin (Southern area of Nagano)
    Izu-ben (Eastern area of Shizuoka)
    Shizuoka-ben (Central area of Shizuoka)

    ikai—ookii in standard Japanese, "big"
    ora—ore "I" (masculine language)
    ganko—sugoku or takusan "very" "a lot"
    nukutoi—atatakai "warm"
    yakkoi—yawarakai "flexible" "soft"

    Enshū-ben (Western of Shizuoka)
    Kōshū-ben (Yamanashi)

Dialects of Echigo

Echigo is in Niigata Prefecture except Sado Island.

    Niigata-ben (Around Niigata city)
    Nagaoka-ben (Center area of Niigata)
    Jōetsu-ben (Wastern area of Niigata)
    Uonuma-ben (Southern area of Niigata)

Dialects of Gifu, and Aichi

    Mino-ben (Southern area of Gifu)
    Hida-ben (Northern area of Gifu)

    Main article: Hida dialect

    Owari-ben (Western area of Aichi)
          Nagoya-ben
          Chita-ben
    Mikawa-ben (Eastern area of Aichi)
          West Mikawa
          East Mikawa

Nagoya

Nagoya-ben is a dialect spoken in and around the city of Nagoya. It is similar to Kansai-ben in intonation, but to Tokyo-ben in accent. Instead of "shitte iru?" Nagoya residents will say "shittoru?" They attach unique suffixes to the end of sentences: "-gaya" when surprised, "-te" for emphasis, "-ni" to show off one's knowledge, and "-dekan" for disappointment. Some Nagoya words: "ketta" for "jitensha", "tsukue o tsuru" to 'move a desk', "dera-" or "dora-" for "sugoi" or "tottemo". A Tokyo resident: "Sou ni kimatteru janai" Nagoya resident: "Sou ni kimattoru gaya". "Gan" is not typical Nagoya-ben. It is rather slang used by the younger Nagoya residents.

Mikawa

Mikawa-ben is spoken in the east half of Aichi prefecture while Nagoya-ben is in the west half. The two dialects are very similar for people from other areas of Japan. But Mikawa and Nagoya people claim that the dialects are completely different. Mikawa people also claim that Mikawa-ben is the basis of Tokyo Japanese because it was made up in Edo period by Samurai from this area.

Hachijō-ben (Hachijō Island)

A small group of dialects spoken on a couple of islands south of Tokyo. Usually Hachijō Dialect is regarded as an independent "root branch" itself for its unique characteristics, especially the abundance of inherited ancient Japanese features, in spite of its small population.

Western Japan 

The dialects of western Japan have some common features that are markedly different from standard Japanese. Of course, not all dialects in western Japan use these features, but some extend from Kinki to Kyushu, sometimes even Okinawa. Some examples are おる (oru) instead of いる (iru), じゃ (ja) or や (ya) instead of だ (da), and the negative form ん (n) as in 行かん (ikan) (行かない (ikanai) in standard Japanese). These features are sometimes derived from Old Japanese.

Hokuriku-ben

Dialects of Hokuriku

    Kaga-ben (Southern area of Ishikawa)
          Kanazawa-ben (Around of Kawanazawa city)
    Noto-ben (Northern area of Ishikawa)
    Toyama-ben or Etchū-ben
    Fukui-ben (Northern area of Fukui)
    Sado-ben (An island of Niigata)

Toyama

Toyama-ben is spoken in Toyama Prefecture. Instead of the standard, shitte imasuka? or colloquial shitte iru? for "Do you know?" Toyama-ben speakers will say, shittorukke? Other regional distinctions include words like kitokito for fresh and delicious.

Other distinctions include the negative past tense being formed differently from standard Japanese as follows:

    Standard Japanese: konakatta (did not come) Toyama-ben: konda (did not come)
    Standard Japanese: inakatta (was not) Toyama-ben: oranda (was not) (n.b.,Toyama-ben uses "oru" instead of "iru" to express "existence")
    Standard Japanese: tabenakatta (did not eat) Toyama-ben: tabenda (did not eat)
    Standard Japanese: shinakatta (did not do) Toyama-ben: senda (did not do)

The distinction made is that the negative past tense in Toyama-ben is formed by adding to the stem of the verb the "nu" suffix, indicating a negative, followed by a "da" indicating the past tense or completed action. "Nu" becomes "n".

Fukui

Fukui-ben is the dialect of The northern part of Fukui Prefecture. Speakers of Fukui-ben tend to talk in an up-and-down, sing-songy manner. It is considered a relatively rural dialect, yet it is not without its own rough, home-spun elegance.

Examples of Fukui-ben include:

    hoya hoya, meaning hai (yes) or so so (that is true)
    mmmmm-do, instead of ē-to (let's see, or well)
    tsuru tsuru, meaning "very" or "a lot" (as in, "tsuru tsuru ippai" or this glass is very full, almost overflowing)
    jami jami describes poor reception on a TV. The usual term is suna arashi "sandstorm"
    hayo shine-ma is a way of telling someone to "hurry up" (However, hayo shine in Standard Japanese is a way of telling someone to "die now")
 

Kansai-ben (Kink-ben)

 Kansai-ben (関西弁) is a dialect spoken in the Kansai region of Japan. Kansai-ben features a number of regional differences: to draw a broad generalization, Osaka-ben can be considered "brash", Kyoto-ben "lilting" and Kobe-ben "melodious".

Dialects of Kansai

    Kyōto-ben or Kyō-kotoba
          Gosho-kotoba (Old Kyoto Gosho dialect)
          Muromachi-kotoba (Old merchant dialect of central Kyōto)
          Gion-kotoba (Geiko dialect of Gion)
    Ōsaka-ben
          Semba-kotoba (Old merchant dialect of central Ōsaka)
          Kawachi-ben (Eastern area of Ōsaka)
          Senshū-ben (Southern area of Ōsaka)
    Kōbe-ben
    Nara-ben or Yamato-ben
          Oku-yoshino (Southernmost area of Nara)
    Tamba-ben (Center of Kyoto and Eastcenter of Hyogo)
          Maizuru-ben (Northeastern area of Kyoto)
    Banshū-ben (Southwestern area of Hyogo)
    Shiga-ben or Ōmi-ben
    Kishū-ben or Wakayama-ben (Wakayama and southernmost area of Mie)
          Shingū (Southeastern area of Wakayama)
    Mie-ben
          Ise-ben (Central area of Mie)
          Shima-ben (Eastern area of Mie)
          Iga-ben (Western area of Mie)
    Wakasa-ben (Southern area of Fukui)

Osaka

Ōsaka-ben belongs to the Kansai family of dialects. The terminology is confusing, as people often use Kansai-ben interchangeably with Ōsaka-ben. Even those in the know may confuse true Ōsaka-ben with Kansai-ben. Some examples include the usage of で (de) as a sentence final particle, and あかん (akan) which means だめ (dame) or いけない (ikenai) in standard Japanese.

Kyoto

Kyōto-ben or Kyō-kotoba is a soft and melodic Kansai variant. Traditional Kyoto dialect uses -taharu or -teharu (e.g. nani shitaharu no?) in its sentence endings, though -yasu and -dosu are also common. See Kansai-ben for more. To end a verb in -taharu is also often considered to be more formal and is almost exclusively used by women. Ending a verb in -taaru is said to have the same effect but usable by men, though it is not very common. The equivalent of standard Japanese's irasshaimase (いらっしゃいませ) is oideyasu (おいでやす) in Kyoto-ben.

Kōbe

Kōbe-ben is notable among Kansai dialects for conjugating the present progressive with the verb ending -ton or -tō. For example, while the phrase "What are you doing?" in standard (and casual) Japanese would be Nani shite iru? in Kōbe-ben it would be Nani shiton? or Nani shitō?. Like Ōsaka-ben, Kōbe-ben uses the inflectional ねん (nen) to add emphasis, such that 何言っているんだよ (Nani itteirundayo, "What (the heck) are you saying?") of standard Japanese could become 何ゆうとんねん (Nani yuuton'nen) in Kōbe-ben.

Chūgoku-ben

Dialects of Chugoku

    Hiroshima-ben (Western area of Hiroshima)
    Bungo-ben (Eastern area of Hiroshima)
          Fukuyama-ben
    Okayama-ben
    Yamaguchi-ben
    Iwami-ben (Western of Shimane)
    Tottori-ben (Eastern area of Tottori)
    Tajima-ben (Northern area of Hyogo)
    Tango-ben (Northernmost area of Kyoto)

Hiroshima

Hiroshima-ben is regarded as a very manly sounding dialect[citation needed]. That is to say, tough and hard. Common variations include じゃ (ja) instead of だ (da), の (no) instead of ね (ne), and like Kyushu it uses けん (ken) instead of から (kara). Putting them together, じゃけんの (jakenno) is often applied to the end of sentences instead of だ (da) or です (desu), even though the meaning of じゃけん (jaken) is literally だから (dakara).

Yamaguchi

Yamaguchi-ben contains more yōons and diphthongs compared to other dialects in Japan. Above all, the consonant "ch" is frequently used. ちょる (choru) is often used instead of ている (te iru) in standard Japanese, and ちゃ (cha) is also used instead of the standard だ (da).

Umpaku-ben

"Umpaku" means "Izumo (Eastern area of Shimane) and Hoki (Western area of Tottori)".

Dialects of Umpaku

    Izumo-ben (East of Shimane)
    Yonago-ben (West of Tottori)

Izumo

Izumo-ben, unique from both southern Shimane's Iwami-ben and Tottori-ben to the east, is a very thick dialect that superficially resembles Tohoku dialects and is thus also called "Zuu zuu ben". The most representative expressions from Izumo-ben include だんだん (dan-dan) to mean thank you, ちょんぼし　(chonboshi) in place of すこし (sukoshi) and 晩じまして (banjimashite) as a greeting used an hour before or after sunset. けん (ken) is used in place of から (kara), even by younger speakers. ごす (gosu) is used in place of くれる (kureru) and おる (oru) is used in non-humble speech as in much of western Japan.

Shikoku-ben

Dialects of Shikoku

    Tokushima-ben or Awa-ben
    Kagawa-ben or Sanuki-ben
    Iyo-ben (Ehime)
    Kōchi-ben or Tosa-ben
          Hata-ben (Western most area of Kochi)

Iyo

Iyo-ben is spoken in Ehime prefecture and is similar to Hiroshima-ben and other dialects in its use of けん (ken) for から (kara) ("because") and おる (oru) (and derivatives) for いる (iru). Some unique features of Iyo-ben include the use of が (ga) to replace the inquisitive か (ka), わい (wai) as a sentence-final particle similar to よ (yo), and more limited regional variations such as 〜てや (teya) for 〜だよ (dayo) (particular to Yawatahama). 何しよるが？ (nani shiyoru ga?) What are you doing? そうてや！ (sou te ya) Yeah, that's right!

Kyūshū-ben

Hōnichi-ben

"Honichi" means "Buzen (Eastern area of Fukuoka and Northern area of Oita), Bungo (Southern area of Oita) and Hyuga (Miyazaki)".

Dialects of Honichi

    Kitakyūshū-ben
    Ōita-ben
    Miyazaki-ben

Miyazaki

Miyazaki is most noted for its intonation, which is very different from that of standard Japanese. At times it can even seem to employ the opposite (inverse) pattern of intonation.

Miyazaki dialect shares similarities with other Kyūshū dialects such as:
と(to) replacing the question particle か(ka)

Examples of Miyazaki dialect include;

    っけ (kke) instead of the standard か (ka) in a forming a question.
    テゲ (tege) as opposed to とても (totemo) very (this word seems to be a borrowed-word from 大概(taigai, almost or ordinarily).
    サミ (sami) as opposed to さむい (samui) cold
    こせん (kosen) as opposed to でしょう (deshou) -isn't it?
   今日はテゲサミこせん (Kyō wa tege sami kosen): Today's really cold, isn't it?
    じゃがじゃが (jagajaga) That's right
   The present continuous て(い)る (te(i)ru) being replaced by おと(oto)
   何しょとっけ？ (nani shoto kke?) What are you doing?
   東京にいっちょると？ (Tokyo ni icchoruto?) You're going to Tokyo?

Hichiku-ben

"Hichiku" means "Hizen (Saga and Nagasaki), Higo (Kumamoto), Chikuzen (Eastern area of Fukuoka) and Chikugo (Southern area of Fukuoka)"

Dialects of Hichiku

    Hakata-ben (Fukuoka City)
    Chikugo-ben (Southern area of Fukuoka)
          Ōmuta-ben
          Yanagawa-ben
    Chikuho-ben (Central area of Fukuoka)
    Saga-ben
    Nagasaki-ben
          Sasebo-ben
    Kumamoto-ben
    Hita-ben (Western most area of Oita)

Hakata

Hakata-ben is the dialect of the Hakata of Fukuoka City. Throughout Japan, Hakata-ben is famous, amongst many other idiosyncrasies, for its use of -to? as a question, e.g., "What are you doing?", realized in Standard Japanese as nani o shite iru no?, is nanba shiyotto? or nan shitōtō in Hakata. Hakata-ben is also being welcomed more often in Fukuoka in areas like television interviews, where standard Japanese is typically expected.

Examples of Hakata-ben include:

    asoban instead of asobou; "let's have fun" (from an alternative simplification of Classical Japanese asobamu)
    bari instead of totemo "very"
    batten instead of demo, kedo "but"
    chikappai instead of monosugoku "extremely/best/very"
    da ken instead of da kara "therefore"
    shitōtchan instead of shiterunda "I'm doing it"
    shitōkiyo instead of shite kinasai "please do ~"; used with children
    sogyan kanji instead of sonna kanji "Like that."
    wakaran bai instead of wakaranai yo "I don't understand / don't get it."
    umaka/samuka/atsuka instead of umai/samui/atsui "tasty/cold/hot" (from an earlier *umaku ari/*samuku ari/*atuku ari)
    yokarōmon instead of ii deshō "good, don't you think?"
    yoka yo instead of ii yo "It's fine."
    tsuya-tukeru instead of kakko-tsukeru "to act cool"

Most other dialects in Kyūshū share much in common with Hakata-ben, but the dialect of Kagoshima is strikingly different from other Kyūshū dialects.
 

Saga-ben 

Saga-ben has gained a certain amount of exposure recently, due to the movie "Gabai Bā-chan". The title itself is in Saga-ben.

Tsushima-ben

Tsushima-ben (Kanji : 対馬方言 or 対馬弁) is a Kyūshū dialect spoken with in the Tsushima Sub-prefecture of Nagasaki Prefecture. Tsushima dialect is often unintelligible to speakers of standard Japanese, but can be understood by speakers of other Kyūshū dialects. Due to historical reasons and the geographical proximity of Korea, Tsushima-ben has borrowed many words from Korean.
Korean loanwords in Tsushima dialect Tsushima dialect     Korean derivation     Standard Japanese     English gloss
ヤンバン
yanban     양반(兩班)
yangban     大地主
ōjinushi     Landlord, land-owner
(Note that in Korean yangban is a Korean elite class)
チング, チングィ
chingu, chingui     친구(親舊)
chingu     友達
tomodachi     Friend
トーマンカッタ
tōmankatta     도망(逃亡)갔다
domang gatta     夜逃げ
yonige     Escaping at night (or running from debt)
(Note that the Korean source, domang gatta, is actually a verbal phrase meaning "ran away; escaped")
ハンガチ
hangachi     한가지
hangaji     ひとつ
hitotsu     One (item)
(Note that the Korean word actually means "one kind, one type, a sort (of)")
チョコマン
chokoman     조그만
jogeuman     小さい
chīsai     Small
バッチ
batchi     바지
baji     ズボン
zubon     Pants

Satsugū -ben

"Satsugū" means "Satsuma (Western area of Kagoshima) and Osumi (Eastern area of Kagoshima)"

Dialects of Satsugu

    Satsuma-ben
    Osumi-ben
    Morogata (Southwestern most area of Miyazaki)

Satsuma

Satsuma-ben, the dialect of Satsuma area of Kagoshima prefecture, is often called "unintelligible" because of distinct conjugations of words and significantly different vocabulary. As the farthest place from Kyoto, it is likely that divergences in dialect were accumulated in Satsuma making it sound relatively distinct. There are several different dialect regions within Kagoshima prefecture.

There is a story, told both inside and outside Kagoshima, that Kagoshima dialect was consciously and deliberately developed as a way of protecting against spies from other parts of Japan during the Edo period when many samurai noble people lived within Kagoshima and conducted important business within it.
 

Ryūkyū a Seperate Language

Specialists agree that the speech of the Ryukyu Islands (the islands of Okinawa Prefecture and some of the islands of Kagoshima Prefecture) is not a dialect of the Japanese language; rather, it comprises a separate branch of the Japonic family. In this view, Japonic is split into two groups: Japanese, spoken throughout the Japanese islands, and Ryukyuan, found in the Ryukyu Islands, south of Kyūshū. Even so, there is great diversity within Japanese, and even greater within Ryukyuan, and many native speakers from one area of Japan can find the speech of another area virtually unintelligible. There has also developed in the Ryūkyūs a dialect called Okinawan Japanese which is close to Standard Japanese, but which is influenced by Ryukyuan languages. For example, "deeji" may be said sometimes instead of "taihen", or "haisai" instead of "konnichiwa".

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