JapanNewbie

Jero speaks Kansai-ben

Posted on 13. Sep, 2009 @ 5:01 pm by harvey in Humor, Language, Media Views: 750

Here is a clip of Jero’s Kansai-ben being “outed” on TV.

They catch Jero speaking Kansai-ben when he says:

…あまりおばあちゃんとおかあちゃんが日本語しゃべってくれへんかったんです。。

… amari obaachan to okaachan ga nihongo shabette kurehen kattann desu.

The “Kansai-ben” dialect part of this grammar is the へん in しゃべってくれへんかった。

As you may know from my other Kansai-ben lessons, in Kansai-ben the negative form of verbs, ない often becomes へん。

So what would be しゃべってくれなかった (shabette kurenakatta) in “standard” Japanese…

Becomes しゃべってくれへんかった (shabette kurehenkatta) in Kansai-ben。

Just like Jero, (なんちゃって！） I also lived in Osaka for 3 years. Sometimes my friends point out that I’m speaking with a Kansai dialect or intonation when I’m really not intending to. Kansai-ben is like that, it just kinda grows on you and pops out sometimes.

On another note, the announcer’s claim that Kansai-ben intonation is more similar to English intonation… is in my opinion ridiculous! Of course, he was probably half joking anyway.

In case you were wondering who this Jero guy is anyway, he’s a ridiculously famous Enka singer in Japan. Google around for him.

いきなりProduct Placementやないか!
If you’re interested in learning more about Kansai-ben so that you can talk like Jero, check out our Kansai-ben iPhone app!

Harvey