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Welcome to the Kansai-ben General Discussion! This is where we discuss everything related to the Japanese Kansai-ben dialect, including, but not limited to:

-differences in grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and other things between Kansai-ben and Tokyo-ben
-recommendations for dictionaries, websites, etc that help you learn Kansai-ben
-and everything else about the beautiful Japanese dialect of the Kansai region! 3nodding

Let's start off with a few facts about the Kansai dialect:

Spoken in: Kansai region of Japan (Osaka, Kyoto, Wakayama, Kobe)

Total number of speakers: ?

Interintelligibility with other dialects: fairly difficult to understand but is becoming more popular nowadays due to TV and the internet

Regulated by: ?

Generally most Japanese dialects are mutually intelligible. A couple common variants between dialects (first in each example is always Tokyo standard)...

だ da (is)
じゃ ja
や ya

だろう darou (is probably)
だべ dabe
やろう yarou

ありがとう arigatou (thanks)
おきに okini

ほほ hoho (cheek)
ほっぺた hoppeta

ばか baka (idiot)
あほ aho*

あたらしい atarashii (new)
あだらしい adarashii

あかい akai (red)
あがい agai

しょうたい shoutai (true form)
しょうだい shoudai

The first is a common and easy to understand shift. じゃ is commonly used by elderly people who speak Tokyo-ben, but also appears in a lot of Osaka speech. The other forms are basically the same, with the one sound changed. だべ is a popular alternate for the probable ending that appears in numerous dialects (Gunma and Fukushima among them).

While おきに is very different from ありがとう, the times at which it would be used would strongly indicate to the listener what the word is supposed to mean. ほっぺた is another variant that is recognizable with ease in context.

The last three establish a pattern common in many northern dialects. It doesn't apply to the first sound in a word, but after it every word uses the signed variant if they have one (か／が・さ／ざ・た／だ・は／ば, etc.).

As to the ばか example, this one's slightly tricky. Both words appear in both dialects (although あほ is considered by many to be distinctly Osakan). The difference is in usage. In Tokyo, あほ is the strong insult and ばか is weaker. In Osaka, the pattern reverses, with ばか being considered very offensive.

I love Kansai-ben. My friends refuse to speak to me though because it sounds harsh...who wants to speak Tokyo-ben and sound like a T.V. reporter? Kansai-ben sukkyanen.

eek heart

I love you, Proudly.

*also takes note*

Kero-chan from CCS has a cute Osakan accent rofl heart

I second that
but I also love Tasuki's(fushigi yuugi) and Yuuhi's(Ayashi No CEREs)
but I'm confused which sub-dialect of Kansai they are speaking(Osaka-ben,Kyoto-ben,standard-kansai, fukui-ben, kumamoto-ben?)

I don't think Fukui-ben and Kumamoto-ben are part of that category but Fukui-ben does use Ookini

animes/anime character that use Kansai-ben
Kawachi Kyousuke from Yakitate! Japan,
Asahina Arumi and Imamiya Satoshi from Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi
Konno "Kitsune" Mitsune from Love Hina.
Kero-chan from CCS
Tasuki(fushigi yuugi)
Yuuhi(Ayashi no Ceres)