LET'S STUDY KANSAI BEN

Attention:Click (ch), you can see the character in Japanese "hiragana".

Sainara (ch) "Good bye."with tender and familiar feeling

Hona Sainara "Hona" means "anyway".

Hona Oyasumi

Hona-ne

Mokarimakka (ch) "How is business?"
Osaka has been the city of merchant since the Middle Ages.So people living in Kansai often exchange greetings like merchant.

Bochi Bochi Denna (ch) "Not bad." Answer to "Mokarimakka".

In Kansai -su is often omitted from verbs. So, masu ka in standard Japanese become makka, desu ka become dekka, and desu na become denna.

Ookini (ch) "Thanks"

Hottoitenka (ch) "Leave me alone." It is said in an angry tone.

Nannbo? (ch) "How much?"

Makete (ch) "Make cheaper."
If you want to buy something in Kansai,you had better say this word. In Kansai beating down the price is very usual.So the prices displaied in the front of shop are often not best prices.If you have confidence in Japanese,you must try to beat down prices.

Gottu Sukiyanenn (ch) "Gottu" means "very much". "Sukiyanenn" means "I love".
"-yanenn" is used just like "-desu" of the standard Japanese. For example,"Sou-yanenn"(It means "Sou-desu.)

Chau Chau (ch) "Chau" means "That's wrong". (It is the same as what Akan (ch) means.) It is often used repeatedly like so.

Sora Chau-de also means "That is wrong". "Sora" is "sore" in standard Japanese, which means "that". "-de" is an abbreviation of "-desu". "Chau-de" sounds more decisively than "Chau Chau".

Nametonnoka (ch) "Don't make a fool of me!!"

Honmakaina (ch) "Really?""Is it true?" "Honma" means "true".

Donaishitan? (ch) It means literally "What's the matter?" and also means "Are you all right?" in case pronunced gently.

Ohayo Okaeri (ch) It is seldom used in daily conversation. But it is thought to be a good example of Kansai ben. It is a greeting used when you see someone off. It means literally I expect you to come home not late.

Sappari Waya Ya (ch) "It's no use at all." "Sappari" means "not at all" and "Waya" means "useless" or "vain". Wayakuchaya-na

Yayakoshii-na (ch) "It looks difficult." or "I don't understand well." "Yatakoshii" means difficult.

Nani Yutennen (ch) It means "What do you say?" literally. But it has the nuannce the same as "So fuckin' what!".

Soyana (ch) "I think so"

Kui-daore (ch) "to go bankrupt for epicurism"
Cui-daore puppet is the symbol of the osaka,"the city of Kui-daore". If you want to know more, go to the company "Cui-daore", that is the owner of that puppet.

Kore Hokashitoiten ka

Ite-motaroka

Youiuwa

Gametsui(ch) greedy

Eraikocha (ch) Oh,my god!

Aho (ch) stupid,fool

to be continued...

If you want to know some differences between Kansai ben and standard Japanese "Hyojun go",click here.

Prepared by Hidetoshi Tokumaru <ht@po.iijnet.or.jp>, July, 1996 (since 1995)

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