If you never go to japan, how to learn Kansai ben or other dialect and is it worth it?

Question

I've never seen books about it, ... but the question is, is it even worth it? ther'es tons of dialects in japan...so it means, if you've learned standard japanese, it means nothing!! you have to learn a thousand dialects? My purpose for japanese is understanding the culture, reading books, perhaps having friends from there someday. so i don't need to learn kansai ben right? or if i do, where d o i learn?

Answer 1

No, it's not worth learning the regional dialects. If you don't have friends from Japan, chances are you don't speak standard Japanese very well as it is difficult to learn the language without using it. So just worry about standard Japanese which everyone can use and understand.

Answer 2

Japan has many dialects, but basically they will all understand standard Japanese. It's like someone talking in a southern accent, a midwestern accent, and a northern accent- it sounds different, but they can all understand each other.
You may sound like a foreigner, but you'll be understood.
If you really want to learn Kansai dialect, you could put out a classified ad for a tutor who is from the Kansai region.

Answer 3

I am a kansai person. I speak standard Japanese and kansai ben. Only kansai persons can speak proper kansai ben. It's hard even for Japanese who aren't a kansai person to learn to speak kansai ben.

Most of the people can speak standard Japanese and almost all Japanese books are written in standard Japanese. Therefore, I don't think you need to learn dialect.

Just start learning kansai ben when you make friends with a kansai person.

Answer 4

I was visiting Japan last year for a business event.My duration of stay there was about three weeks. Before I started, I had the same dilemma about the language problem. Surprisingly the younger generation of Japanese speak good english & there are signs written both in Japanese almost everywhere!!

If you are going to live in Japan,I suggest learn the language there, since the atmosphere compels you to learn it faster!! If you are an occasional visitor, dont worry, Japan is not so difficult as Russia! Atmosphere is very important for any language to learn.

Answer 5

in case you somewhat need to benefit common jap.. you extra useful circulate tokyo. no longer osaka nevertheless... all jap understand common jap yet all jap communicate dialect in daily existence. (common jap is in line with tokyo dialect nevertheless) virtually all kansai human beings communicate kansai-ben even at school. osaka and tokyo univ use comparable e book and used common jap. we use common jap as quickly as we write something real e book or document. kansai human beings dont like common jap lots in case you pick extra help digital mail me ^_^

Answer 6

1. It might be.
2. It depends on how much you will use it.