Hello, this is Anne from the Sapporo office.
I’ve started to pick up some of the Hokkaido dialect during my time being in Sapporo, mostly thanks to living with a host family for a while, and I think that it sounds pretty cool. I’m kind of too embarrassed to use it while speaking Japanese, though.
Speaking of dialects, it’s been a while since I’ve been home, and I really miss conversing in my own dialect, so I’d like to introduce some of its aspects today.
I’m originally from the Philadelphia (aka “Philly”) area, so the dialect of English that I speak is quite close to “Philadelphia English.” It’s not too difficult for English speakers to understand, but there are definitely a few points that throw people off.
The most classic example of Philly English is how the word “water” is pronounced. You can instantly pinpoint if someone’s from the area or not just from hearing them say this one word. In most American English dialects, it’s pronounced like “WAH-ter.” Where I’m from, though, everyone says “wood-er.” Personally, I am able to pronounce it like “WAH-ter,” but I need to actively plan to do so first. So I usually stick with “wood-er,” even here in Japan. Likewise, “towel,” “coffee,” and “on” are some of the other words where the pronunciation in Philly is different from the surrounding area.
We also tend to use some phrases that aren’t really used anywhere else. For example, almost no one in the Philly area says that they’re “going to the beach.” Instead, we say that we’re “going down the shore.” And when we get there, we might “tap MAC” (not “use an ATM”) to take out some money so we can enjoy an ice cream cone covered in “jimmies” (not “sprinkles”) on the boardwalk.
Finally, I want to share arguably the most important slang word in Philadelphia English: jawn.
“Jawn” is a gender-neutral noun that can be used to replace any other noun. This means that it’s also highly contextual, so it’s usually used after the subject has been established. The term originated in the Black community, but has since spread to become a symbol of Philadelphia.
For example, you can say “I’ll be at that jawn after work” if you’re planning on meeting someone at an already agreed-upon place after you’ve clocked out. You can then say “that jawn’s late” if the person that you’re meeting is running behind schedule. When they finally get there, you can ask them to “hand [you] that jawn” if you want them to give you something. But you really shouldn’t say something like “let’s go meet that jawn at the jawn down the street with those jawns that you like.”
When I speak in English here in Japan, I usually alter how I speak to sound more like a general American accent (apart from “wood-der” of course!). But I think from now on, I might start throwing in a few Philly English terms here and there. It might be fun for the people around me, too!