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Japanese 101: Kansai Dialect
I remember being at  Kinokuniya in Umeda,　a Japanese Bookstore, and just amazed at their selection.  I believe a popular title, or at least it was prominently featured was some dirty Osaka-ben slang book. Fast forward to modern times and now we have a popular Japanese iPhone app that features Kansai-Ben otherwise known as Osaka Japanese Slang.  My wife is from Osaka and she was getting a kick out of listening to some of them and honestly didn’t even realize some of the dialogue was in fact Kansai-Ben.  She just was raised and never thought about it as it’s just a natural way of speaking for those from that area.  Categories include Feeling Bad, Greetings, Food, Apologizing and nine others. In total has about 250 phrases or so each recorded by a native Osakan.

It’s not really that hard for a native Japanese or with a semi decent commmand of Japanese to pick up.  It’s just like being thrown a curve ball in language learning and adapting.  So what good is this app?  Well, if you plan on visiting or especially living there it’ll give you a head start and when they start ripping like so:
Kansai Ben = Japanese equivalent

honma kaina ほんまかいな = honto ni　ほんとに
ee na ええな　=　ii desu ne いいですね
akanあかん = dame　だめ
nambo なんぼ = ikura いくら
shiran しらん = shirinai しりない
hokasu　ほかす = suteru すてる
chau ちゃう　= chigau ちがう
dekihen できへん = dekinai できない

Japanese 101: Kansai Dialect features Categories where you can browse throw the phrases and memorize them.  Each phrase is spoken by a native Japanese female who sounds like those Yanki girls with dyed hair. That’s a compliment btw. Then in the flash cards even study further.  Tapping the flash card will reveal the English and explanation on the backside. You can select multiple categories for your quiz which is a four multiple choice.  I always like to not look at the answers and just hear the phrase spoken and formulate the answer in my head.  You can always tap again if you didn’t quite catch the spoken phrase the first time.  End of a quiz you can review your wrong answers if any. Overall this is a nice application now if someone comes up with a recording device that slows down my Bachan in realtime so I could understand a bit more of what she is saying then I’d be all set.  Until then I’ll have to keep asking my wife “What in the world did she just say?”

Japanese Idioms is targeted to those with intermediate Japanese understanding. It contains 101 Japanese idioms. What is an idiom? Like a “chip on your shoulder” or “hit the nail on the head” are examples of English idioms. Has three sections, namely, Categories where you browse through and learn idioms.  Flash Card mode lets you choose display order either by Japanese or English and choose either Phrases Only, Examples Only or All.  Front of the flash card shows the English equivalent translation with practical usage.  Tap on flash card to flip over and it’ll show Japanese kanji with romaji and sound button you can hear it too. Quiz mode has you choosing multiple choice.

Covers a broad range of topics.  While your learning an idiom of interest to you it’ll give you the English equivalent translation alonog with the literal translation. Clicking sound button let’s you hear the Japanese idiom, English equivalent translation, Example sentences in Japanese and English.  I could easily see someone making a list of 101 idioms with sound and selling it but they go in depth with pratical usage information and example sentences to reinforce when to properly use such an idiom.

I absolutely love Quiz mode.  Best way is to just hear the idiom and form the answer in your head and then look at the choices.  If you look at the choices you may be cheating.  It’ll auto advance and speak the next idiom after answer the question.