Benss

Hey,
I just wanted to bring up the various dialects today, or benss. There is an extra 'S' because there are too many friggin dialects. This is actually kinda hard to explain. Japan has a lot of mountains, so in the old days, not much travel was done between the various cities that set up in the little space between all these mountains. As a result, many different dialects formed in the various areas. This is just what I've been told.

Anyways, Kansai, Kyushu, Tokyo, you name it, all have little quirks that make their way of speaking Japanese different. Many people don't even consider Okinawan as Japanese. This is, for lack of a better term, freaking annoying. Once you think you've learned some Japanese you gotta learn 20 other ways of speaking.

Its not as bad as I'm making it out to be. And there is a "standard" Japanese that everyone pretty much knows. Just think of the dialects as a way to spice up your Japanese. FYI, Kansai-ben is probably one of the spiciest of the bens.

If you take nothing else from this post, remember this - A foreigner who speaks a ben is more popular (and well rounded I guess) than one that speaks that boring old standard Japanese.

Peace