Like Kansai or Osaka? I really like them but I feel like you can’t really speak that way since you’re not from there? For instance I say y’all even though I don’t live in the south US, I’m more north and sometimes people give me クソ about it but it’s a habit. Opinions, thoughts, stories?
5 Likes
I don’t think it’s bad to learn them, I find them really interesting as well, but you might want to refrain from speaking in a dialect until you’re really good at Japanese.
I think most people would find it confusing if you switched dialects mid sentence or if you were inconsistent in your use of a dialect, i.e using kansai-ben for some words, but then speaking mostly standard Japanese.
I also think it would be difficult to get to a high level in any non-standard dialect because most resources out there teach standard Japanese.
7 Likes
When you learn a language you are always learning a dialect. It just so happens that when it comes to language learning, usually foreigners are taught a standardized form of a dialect that is promoted as the “main” form of the language. Of course it’s not weird. To think it weird would be to tell native speakers who don’t speak the politically promoted standard dialect that their own native speech, their dialect, is “weird”. I’d be delighted if someone learned my dialect. I have a friend that learned Norwegian, which is a language that encourages the use of regional dialects as opposed to promoting just one standardized dialect, and he learned to speak Nordnorsk.
6 Likes
It’s funny, it’s one of the things that’s always worried me about learning any language - I know what I sound like in my native tongue and would want to emulate my speech in whatever language I learn as close to that as possible.
It’s funny, I type y’all fairly often and occasionally say it… with a fairly posh sounding British accent (just based on having been born where I was born) haha
2 Likes
Maybe I should elaborate that I feel like people who have those dialects, it’s obviously fine because that’s where they live or were raised etc so that makes sense. But for a foreigner like me I felt it’s weird to be like “oh I like this style of speaking I can pick and choose”
2 Likes
Really? I think if, for example, a non-American spoke in a Texan accent it would sound quite strange.
7 Likes
I personally agree with @ShirukaCGV. There’s no reason not to know some local dialects. You’ll maybe even be able to pick some pieces when you watch anime/read manga.
On the other hand, unless you live in a certain region for a certain amount of time, I wouldn’t use local idioms unless you really really knew what they meant. There are so many nuances a local person will intrinsically understand and feel when spoken to in their local dialect and you may or may not know anything about those details for all the words you’re using - and suddenly you would sound strange or, worst case, come off as insulting them by sounding as if you’re aping them and someone would take offense, where all you wanted to do was sound more natural.
Plus there’re those points ShirukaCGV mentioned, too, e.g. how to be able to attain a high level of proficiency for lack of regional dialect material.
3 Likes
You definitely can pick whichever one you want though, it’s all up to you! You shouldn’t mix dialects of course, but any main form of a language only came to be because of politics and cultural influence (and without fail at the expensive of regional varieties). If you are interested in a dialect, don’t be discouraged from learning it just because it doesn’t have the political and cultural prestige that some other form of the language has (which is the only reason it is promoted as the form for foreigners to learn). This goes for any language.
1 Like
Yes, really. I think it sounds fine and shows an appreciation for the locals and their culture.
3 Likes
Well, to each their own I guess. 
1 Like
I think it’s important to eventually be able to understand dialects, but that should wait until you are proficient in the language, since resources for that are going to be in Japanese.
As for speaking it, maybe as a hobby or whatever, but I would be careful about using it in a way that doesn’t seem insulting.
5 Likes
I was learning a bit of Kansai dialect. Not to speak but to understand some people on Youtube.
Learning it is fine, I’m not sure what peoples’ reactions would be if you tried to speak it.
3 Likes
As for speaking it, maybe as a hobby or whatever, but I would be careful about using it in a way that doesn’t seem insulting.
What about the other way around? Personally, I’d be far more insulted if someone lived in my area, was interested in the local culture and the dialect, but still chose not to learn my dialect because another form of the language (due to political and cultural influence) is promoted as the form foreigners should learn.
Japanese people are not going to be insulted at not speaking a local dialect ever basically. To the contrary, they will generally praise even the slightest bit of linguistic compentacy.
4 Likes
I can’t imagine anyone being insulted because you chose to learn to speak like someone in, say, Fukuoka instead of Tokyo either. Which was my point really.
The problem is that it can sound like mocking if you aren’t good at it. Generally imitating a group’s speech patterns can sound that way. Imagine someone having a really bad fake southern accent. It has the tone of someone mocking them, even if that isn’t the intention.
3 Likes
If they are a language learner, no, it doesn’t at all. It’s very obvious when someone is mocking you versus trying to learn your language & dialect. Have you heard Americans mock Chinese by saying things like “ching chang chong”? I am sure you have. Now have you heard Americans learn to speak Chinese dialects? There are many videos on YouTube. The two sound nothing alike.
1 Like
I think a major issue is the chance of getting it right if you learned the language outside of the area where that dialect is spoken and/or you don’t live there. It’s not uncommon for non-native speakers to adopt (parts of) the dialect of their region if that’s where they learn the language or that’s where they moved after acquiring a good chunk, but it’s difficult for a language learner to accurately speak a dialect if they don’t get a significant amount of input in just that dialect.
To give an example, I taught German as a foreign language for several years and remember having a student who loved going to southern Bavaria, a region famous for skiing, and he went every year. The area has its own dialect of German, and so he was keen to emulate it, but had never received enough input to get it quite right and it was easily noticeable to native speakers as an odd mix of a non-native accent, standard pronunciation, and dialectal “twang”. I’m not from the area myself so I had no sensitivities about it, but there’s a big risk of unintentionally sounding comical.
7 Likes
Yeah I have heard a story of someone picking up a partial Osaka dialect and it caused Japanese people to laugh a bit when they first heard him speak.
To be fair Osaka dialect is comical sometimes and I love it
2 Likes