Hello, I've returned from Kumamoto to Canada about 4 months ago, and while living there I enjoyed and tried to pick up what I could of the local dialect as I thought it was something not all gaikokujin did and it seemed to please kumamotojin when I used it... unfortunately my command of it is somewhat weak, but I'd like to explore and share what I know with others... has anyone else had any experience with this dialect...

for example, people will often tag "...bai" to the end of expressions:
and use honna kotsu to express really/very...
ie. honna kotsu nemukabai! (I'm really sleepy!)

I'm interested in other phrases too...

Thank you,
yareyare

yareyare wrote:

Hello, I've returned from Kumamoto to Canada about 4 months ago, and while living there I enjoyed and tried to pick up what I could of the local dialect as I thought it was something not all gaikokujin did and it seemed to please kumamotojin when I used it... unfortunately my command of it is somewhat weak, but I'd like to explore and share what I know with others... has anyone else had any experience with this dialect... for example, people will often tag "...bai" to the end of expressions: and use honna kotsu to express really/very... ie. honna kotsu nemukabai! (I'm really sleepy!) I'm interested in other phrases too... Thank you, yareyare

I did notice that they spoke a little differently there when I visited. Unfortunately, it was just a whirlwind tour of the area. Would you say it's more akin to dialects in Western Japan (like Yamaguchi-ken) or more like Western Shikoku?

thetenken wrote:

I did notice that they spoke a little differently there when I visited. Unfortunately, it was just a whirlwind tour of the area. Would you say it's more akin to dialects in Western Japan (like Yamaguchi-ken) or more like Western Shikoku?

Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to visit Shikoku and just kind of flew through Yamaguchi ken... I have been told while kumamoto ben is in many ways distinct, it has some common phrases with the fukuoka region and even osaka ...
an example is (kyushu?): nanba shouto = nani wo shitteiru no (what are you doing?)
or saikarishika (not sure of romaji spelling, never seen this written) which is somewhat similar to uru sai but a little stronger... a friend from osaka said he's heard that used in osaka occasionally, but maybe just by folks originally from kyushu ? not sure...