JapanNewbie

Kansai-ben iPhone App Audio Preview #2

Posted on 21. May, 2009 @ 7:53 pm by harvey in Gadgets, Language Views: 750

Here is another sample from the upcoming Kansai-ben Application illustrating the difference in intonation used when speaking Kansai-ben when compared to standard Japanese.

In this audio sample both speakers are saying the exact same thing, but one person is speaking in the standard Japanese intonation and the other is a native of Osaka speaking with Kansai-ben intonation. See if you can notice the intonation difference.

Here is the typical standard Japanese intonation of someone saying “good morning,” おはようございます。

And here is the Kansai-ben intonation of someone saying “good morning,” おはようございます。

Could you catch the difference?

Notice that two different people are speaking each phrase. It’s pretty rare to find a native Japanese speaker who can speak both Kansai-ben and standard Japanese completely naturally. It would be kind of like an American trying to fake a British accent. It can be done, but it’s usually not as good as the real thing. Our Kansai-ben application uses a native from Osaka for all of the Kansai-ben audio so you’ll hear the authentic intonation.

Japanese is not a tonal language like Chinese or Thai or anything, but intonation does matter. This is why it’s important to have native audio to mimic when learning Japanese, whether its characters from your favorite Japanese movies, your Japanese friends, or some prerecorded tool like a CD that came with a textbook or this Kansai-ben iPhone application. Otherwise even if you’re saying all the correct syllables you may end up sounding like a strange foreigner!

Happy Kansai-ben’ing!

- Harvey

Tags: japanese, kansai-ben, Language, learning