Hi everybody, BigBong here and this video is an answer
to all the people who ask me to make more content about
the Japanese language and culture
So today, I have the pleasure to be with my friend Mari
I grew up within the Kyoto prefecture
pretty much throughout my life
But originally, I'm from Uji City
I was there until the 5th year of elementary school
and I went into rather the central area of Kyoto City
Your English is pretty much native
How did you learn English?
So when I was maybe around 8
I was here in Canada for around a year
That's how I tried to pick up the language
But I think you know that one year is actually not enough
It depends, some people are faster than others
So back at home, after going back to Japan
we kept on watching English television
And also, I was fortunate because I had siblings
who I could talk to in English
But I didn't go to an international school
So my English is not that perfect
Oh come on!
Yeah that's how I basically maintained
All this to say that if you study Japanese
it's probably gonna be the "hyoujungo" the Standard Japanese
But if you go out of Tokyo, the capital city
you'll discover an incredible source of linguistic diversity
because there are so many accents, so many expressions and dialects
throughout Japan, and that's very good to know
Now, you probably heard about the Kansai-ben
which is the language dialect spoken in the Kansai area of Japan
But that also includes other big prefectures and cities like Osaka and Nara
So as you can imagine, they must be rivalries
between these cities and areas
Of course, words and expressions also may be different
But first of all, can you tell us a little bit about the main differences
in terms of personalities and characters
I think the most interesting would be the comparison
between Osaka-jin and Kyoto-jin
There is a concept of like the "Osaka no Obachan"
You might have heard of it
Yes, Osaka no Obachan would be very loud, very expressive
speaking to you as if she was your mom
Exactly!
So they'll be very direct to you
They'll be very straightforward to you
You might have seen the picture
So we would say that Kyoto-jin are very calm and relaxed
on the outside, but maybe on the inside, we have other thoughts
But on the other hand, Osaka-jin would be very aggressive
They'll be enthusiastic towards everything
but thy have really nice characters
But I must say that the Kyoto-jin has a really calm
and elegant personality...
But this is accepted, like even people from Osaka
or people from Nara, they see that and they say
"Oh yeah, that's right"
We make fun of it because we can relate to it
What about Nara?
Nara... So their people
I have friends from Nara
Oh that's a difficult question
I think, in my opinion, Nara people are just very calm and kind
Now it's time to study the accent itself
So let's make the comparison in Japanese
"Today, I went to the dentist and I was told I have 4 cavities"
It's Standard Japanese
Kyoto-ben would be
"Today, I went to the dentist and I was told I have 4 cavities"
Nice!
Could you tell the difference?
Please let us know in the comments!
So would you like to analyze that a little bit?
Oh that's good!
I think the main difference would be the intonation
How we would say "kyou"
So let's move on to the next part, I actually have some family in Osaka
I've analyzed the way of speaking and I know a few things
So for example, instead of saying "hontoudesuka?"
You would say "honmakaina"
Do you use all these expressions also in Kyoto?
Or is it something just for Osaka?
I think I've heard you use these expressions sometimes
So I would say it's pretty much Kansai-ben, right?
Yes exactly, what you just said would be in general Kansai-ben
But how would you distinguish someone from Osaka
and someone from Kyoto then?
Ok, that's a good question actually
So in general, if you're a Kyoto-jin
you can actually kind of sense that people are from Osaka
Because of their character, what you said before?
Both, the character and the way they speak
But I think the most prominent would be "konai"
"Not to come" or "not to arrive"
In hyoujungo, it would be "konai"
We Kyoto-jin would say "kiihin"
[BigBong repeats after Mari]
But Osaka-jin would say "keihen"
[BigBong repeats after Mari]
So like "that girl didn't come today"
In Kyoto-ben, we would say "Ano onna noko kyou kiihin kattana"
Osaka people would say, I think it would be like
"Kyou, ano onna noko keihen kattana"
The thing is "hen" is very Kansai-ben
"Hin" is a little bit more on Kyoto side
But for example, when you use negation in your sentence
You have to choose which one you will connect it to
You can't say "tabehin", you need to say "tabehen"
I think it's when you connect it with like [i]
So like "kiihin" or "shiihin"
Another word would be "shiihin"
"Suru... shinai?"
[BigBong repeats after Mari]
Osaka-jin would say "seihen"
Ah interesting "shi" becomes "se"
"I didn't oversleep today"
Hyoujungo would be "kyou, nebou shinakatta"
"Kyou, nebou shiihin katta"
And in Osaka-ben "kyou nebou seihen katta"
Interesting!
Ok, so moving on
I think you prepared a few expressions for us today
Yeah so number one would be "ookini"
[BigBong repeats after Mari]
I think this is very Kansai, it's a beginner word
It means "arigatou"
You would hear it often in shops
After you buy something, the salesperson would say "ookini"
Or you can also say "ookini"
It has nothing to do with "ookii" being big?
I don't know, I'm asking
No
It's a big thank you!
I don't know where it came from
Another would be "bochi bochi desune"
"Bochi bochi yana"
It's like "maa maa"
Ah it's so so
I didn't do so well at today's exam
Yeah, it was so so relatively on the negative side
Interesting!
I don't know if this is Kansai-ben or just Kyoto
But we would say, when we use something
and we put things back, we would say "naosu"
Can you put this plate back?
It doesn't mean to fix it
You know, like in hyoujungo "naosu" means to fix
But in Kyoto
I'm pretty sure in Kyoto but I don't know for Osaka
It's "to place back"
Yeah so if people ask you with a non-broken dish
"Kore naoshitoite"
Haha it's not broken...
It means just to put it back to where it belongs
Interesting!
One thing that's very important, it's not a phrase
but I think it's very useful, it's that we use "haru" a lot
I think in hyoujungo, if you want to respect somebody
And for example, your teacher cooks
Hyoujungo, we would say "sensei ga ryouri sareru"
But in Kyoto or Kansai, we would say "sensei ga ryouri shiharu"
A verb that's already "sonkeigo" for example "meshiagaru"
How would you say that conjugated with "haru"?
Would that be possible?
That's not possible, so we would say "tabeharu"
"Tabeharu" or "Nomaharu"
You can use "haru" in a lot of cases
You would use it basically all the time
I think it's the easiest "sonkei" way of saying
So you can say "to look: miharu"
"To eat: tabeharu", "to cook: ryouri shiharu"
"To play: asobaharu"
Interesting and very simple actually
But then, it's only in the Kansai area
If you go to Tokyo, people would be like...
Yeah they'll notice you're from Kansai
So now, something else you wanted to share is
their cultural behaviours, in some situations
Would you like to tell us a little bit more about that?
Ok, so we're said to have "honne to tatemae"
which is like what you say on the outside
and then what you're thinking on the inside
And the Kyoto-jin is kinda famous for
using what you say politely, but being very mean on the inside
For example, the most famous one
I think all the people in Japan will know
It's like when you're invited to a house
And you're talking at the gate and you're having a daily conversation
And the people who are from that house would say
"Bubuzuke tabete ikaharimasuka"
I'm gonna say it a bit slower
"Bubuzuke tabete ikaharimasuka"
So it means "Do you want to have something to eat?"
"Bubuzuke" is like a kind of porridge
Porridge?
Yeah it's "ochazuke"
It's like a really nice invitation, right?
Of course yeah, I love that!
But you have to say no
So it's actually trying to make you leave
What happens if you say yes?
If you're for example a "gaijin" like a foreigner like me
and you love ochazuke
You say "yes, let's go"... What would happen?
You'll be never served ochazuke
and you'll never be invited to a conversation
Oh my god!
Please note that down, because that's very important
Yes, I love it!
So it's a question to induce you to say
"No, it's a good time. I have to head back!"
Right!
So the person who's asking is actually wanting you to say
"No it's time for me to go back"
Hence the question
"Wow Bong, you've got a very nice watch!"
Ah thank you!
She says I have a nice watch
So that means actually "you have a nice watch"
"Why don't you take a look at it?"
"Oh look at the time, it's late already..."
"Why don't you head home?"
I love it!
Finally, what I want to share would be like
For example, there is a kid in your neighbourhood
who's practicing the piano
And your neighbour would say like
"Tanaka-san no uchi no oko-san piano jouzu ni narahattana"
It literally means "your kid, his piano is getting better"
But what it actually means is "shut up"
Exactly!
"I've been listening to your kid's terrible piano for weeks"
"It's not getting better..."
"It's been painful!"
But that's confusing because if you really want to say
"Wow your kid is very good"
Because the kid could actually be good
You know, playing incredibly
Then it's difficult because when you say it
the other person doesn't know if you're making too much noise
or if it's an actual complement
I don't think we make so many compliments
Here you go!
So guys, if you receive a compliment from someone
from Kyoto, you know what it means
So yeah, that was kind of exaggerated
because it's like a way how people describe
about Kyoto-jin that we differentiate between
what we say and what we really feel
But I have to say, Kyoto-jin are very nice people
We're not necessarily mean like that
It's a way to give you examples on how we behave
There are a lot of foreigners actually in Kyoto
Yeah, I mean we're nice people so we won't be too hostile
and be like "come on, you've gotta understand this"
But it's just how we're used to dealing with things
We don't want to be directly saying too many things
I think it's too offensive but we try to say indirectly
more kindly express ourselves
So that's it guys, I hope you had so much fun
learning Kyoto-ben, as much as I did
Thank you for teaching us
And I hope it made you want to travel to Japan and Kyoto as well
If you enjoyed this video, please let us know with a thumbs-up
And the comment section is also all yours
if you know other expressions from Kansai
Would you like to say all that in Japanese?
Yes, if you liked this video click on the thumbs-up
And if you know other expressions or if you think
"Mari is wrong" please let us know in the comments
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Bong, you have a nice watch!
Ah so let's stop here