Month: May 2017

When people ask me how many languages I speak, I say three (Japanese, English, and Spanish).

I sometimes want to say four counting my native Hiroshima dialect as one.

Here is a comparison of standard Japanese and Hiroshima dialect using the hand gesture chart that I filled up using Hiroshima dialect expressions long time ago.

Is the difference between Japanese and Hiroshima dialect bigger than, say, the difference between Spanish and Italian?

I would think so.

Rather seriously, when growing up in countryside of Japan, there were many kids who struggled reading aloud standard Japanese in class. Back then I thought it was just their struggles with reading Chinese characters, but today I wonder how much of that was a second language acquisition problem.

Just to translate three at the top from left to right:

1. Wait please
Hiroshima: Machinsai
Japanese: Matte kuda sai

2. Nothing to worry about
Hiroshima: Sewa~ naiwai
Japanese: ?

Japanese: 3. Is it all gone?
Hiroshiima: Mitetorukano?
Japanese: nakunatteru kana?

 

But these are extreme examples, so I want to type up some basic ones:

What are you doing (polite)?
Japanese: Nani wo sarete imaska?
Hiroshima: Nan sho chat te desuka?

I am studying English.
Japanese: Eigo wo benkyo shite imasu
Hiroshima: Eigo benkyo sho~ru

Please leave any comments you may have!

バイリンガールのチカさんがVとBを示されているのですが、Vを発音するときに、間違ってBになっているところがあります。

I bought a vestをI bought a bestとおっしゃっているところがあり（最初のもそうだけど、２回目のが特にB、、３回目ぐらいでVになる）、そこから、なんとか修正されて正しくVになっています。

細かいですが、VがFになるところもあります。

Vを口の中の摩擦と考えて教えようとすると力んでしまいネイティブでさえBとなってしまうということでしょうね。あくまでも、たまたまそうなっただけで、当然、チカさんはネイティブなわけですが。

 

英語喉流の正しい説明は以下の通りです。

これは余計なコツかもしれませんが、Bが普通でそれをVに昇華させるのではなくて、VとBは別物と考えるか、Vが普通で、唇を面倒だけどしめたらBという感じで考えたらいいのかも、、、。