Kansai Dialect
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansai 関西 (Kansai)] is a region of Japan that includes some of the largest cities in Japan such as 大阪 (Osaka), and 京都 (Kyoto). While there are many dialects with distinct characteristics within that region, [http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%96%A2%E8%A5%BF%E5%BC%81 関西弁] is often used to roughly describe the dialect of that entire region based mostly on 大阪弁 (Osaka dialect). 関西弁 is one of the most widely-used dialects in Japanese, second only to the standard (Tokyo) dialect. While standard Japanese is understood everywhere in Japan, you're going to eventually have to become at least somewhat familiar with 関西弁 in order to understand a large portion of the Japanese population either in the media or in real life. In fact, while all Japanese native speakers may not be able to speak in 関西弁, they all understand it to a certain degree.
There are four major types of differences in the language that makes up a dialect: grammar, sentence endings, vocabulary, and pitches. In this section, we will take a look at the major differences in grammar, sentence endings, and vocabulary. This will be enough to understand most of the dialect. However, in order to actually speak the dialect, you need to master all the differences in pitches, which is beyond the scope of this text.
The differences in pitches are what really gives 関西弁 its distinct flavor and characteristic. For example, if you said, 「ありがとう」 in the standard dialect, you would raise and lower the pitch on the 「り」 like so: 「あ/り\がとう」. However, in 関西弁, you would raise the pitch on the last 「とう」 like so: 「ありが/とう」. While understanding 関西弁 is not too difficult, if you want to speak the dialect like a true local, you need to train yourself to speak with the different tones and pitches by mimicking people who speak the dialect. However, I strongly recommend maintaining your standard Japanese because, after all, it is the standard language.
Negative Verbs in 関西弁
The negative 「へん」 tense for verbs is one of the biggest difference in 関西弁 grammar. This form of the negative seems to be more for certain verbs such as 「わかる」. Described very simply, the 「ない」 ending of the verb is replaced by 「へん」. For the past tense, 「なかった」 becomes 「へんかった」. Here is a simple chart outlining the difference.
Negative verbs in 関西弁
| 標準語 | 関西弁 |
Non-Past | | |
Past | | |
The regular exceptions verbs 「する」 and 「くる」 becomes 「せえへん」 and 「こおへん」. The negative past is quite simple as it is identical to the negative but with 「かった」 attached to the end.
Using Negative Verbs in 関西弁
- For the negative, replace 「ない」 with 「へん」
例) 食べる → 食べない → 食べへん
例) わかる → わからない → わからへん
- For the negative past tense, add 「かった」 to 「へん」
例) 食べる → 食べない → 食べへん → 食べへんかった
例) わかる → わからない → わからへん → わからへんかった
- Exception Verbs: negative
例) する → せえへん
例) くる → こおへん
例) ある → あらへん
例) いる → いやへん
- Exception Verbs: negative past (just add かった to the negative)
例) する → せえへん → せえへんかった
例) くる → こおへん → こおへんかった
例) ある → あらへん → あらへんかった
例) いる → いやへん → いやへんかった
Examples
(1) 例文を追加せんとあかんで。
- TODO: Have to add examples here.
TODO: The ん negative is used more often as well. (心配せんでもええ)
Using 「あかん」 instead of 「いけない」
Using 「(し)もうた」 instead of 「ちゃう」
Using 関西弁 sentence endings
だ -> や (じゃない->や? ex: ええやないの?)
だろう -> やろ(う)
?-> ねん
?-> で
?-> わ
なんでやねん
せやな
Some Kansai vocabulary
いい -> ええ
本当 -> ほんま
違う -> ちゃう
面白い -> おもろい
しんどい