JapanNewbie

Kansai-ben #1

Posted on 18. Jun, 2004 @ 12:00 pm by harvey in Culture Views: 125

Here are two cases of Kansai-ben I have seen around the Osaka and Nara area.

The first one says, “jibun ni atta kaisya wo jikkuri sagashiterunnya-!!” Which roughly translates into, “I’m taking my time looking for a job that fits me!” The ad is for some kinda job hunting help thing. Anyway, the important thing is that the last part of the sentence is kinda sorta kansai-ben. The “sagashiterunnya!” Normally, in “hyoujungo” or Tokyo dialect, would be, “sagashiterunnda!”

This is a flier to warn people to watch out for “hittakuri”, a type of theft where people ride by on bicycles or scooters and snatch purses or other belongings. Apparently this type of theft is growing in Japan as there are signs everywhere warning people about it…

It says, “Kiitsukeya-! Annta no koto yade. Sono baggu hittakuri ni goyoushin!!” Which roughly translates in to, “Be careful! This is about you! Be careful to protect your bag from ‘hittakuri’!” In standard Tokyo-style Japanese, I think this would be like, “kiwotsukete, anata no koto dayo. sono baggu hittakuri ni goyoushin!” You can see how the “yade” is replacing “dayo”, and “kiwotsukete” has been mangled into “kiitsukeya!”

きをつけて→きをつけてよ!→きをつけや!→きいつけや!

That’s my unofficial kansai-ben analysis for the week. If you gotta problem with it, set me straight by commenting on this thing. Don’t worry, you won’t hurt my pride.

[UPDATE 6-21]
Hey! My friend showed me this today! It is a Standard Japanese to Kansai-ben translator! Give it a try!

-Harvey