Fukuoka is located on the island of Kyushu and is one of the 10 best places to live on Earth. The dialect is spoken in Fukuoka and around the city, in Hakata Bay.
The dialect has unique distinctions that make it popular among Japanese from other islands. The dialect is called “Hakata Ben” [博多弁] and is considered the most distinct dialect of the Japanese Language. The grammar and writing style also change.
Some of the changes in the Hakata Ben dialect include the use of “tto” when asking questions, for example:
- Normal: nani o shiteiru no?
- Hakata Ben: nan ba shiyo tto?
- Hakata Ben: nan shitō to?
There is also the use of some words:
- I – uchi
- You – ātan
- Yes – yoka
- No – innya
Another interesting factor in the dialect is leaving verbs in the negative form, while in traditional Japanese “nai” is used, the Hakata dialect uses only “n,” for example: 食べない > 食べん
Other examples:
Below are more examples of changes in the grammar of the Fukuoka dialect:
- te ita => totta / yotta
- te ita => totta / yotta
- nete ita => netotta / neyotta
- te aru => toru / tou
- kaite aru => kaitoru / kaitou
- akete aru => aketoru / aketou
- ja nai ka => roumon
- mitemo ii ja nai ka => mitemo yokaroumon
- komaru ja nai ka => komaroumon
- Conjugation “kedo” => batten
- Nihon-jin dakedo => Nihon-jin batten
- kana => kaina
- mou tsuita kana => mou tsuita kaina
- konai kana => kon kaina
- oishii kana => oishii kaina
- hima kana => hima kaina
The Hakata dialect is quite similar to the Hichiku (肥筑) dialect, which is also spoken in western Japan on the island of Kyushu and encompasses all other local dialects.
Below I will leave an image showing some of the words used in the dialect; if you have knowledge of hiragana and nihongo, try to relate the words to the images.
We also recommend reading: Keigo – The formality in the Japanese Language
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