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<\/p>\nA predominantly homogenous nation, it may come as a surprise that the land of the rising sun contains multiple different Japanese dialects. The country consists of around 6,000 islands and it’s capital city Tokyo is home to over 35 million people.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This makes it not only one of the most amalgamated melting pots of people that come from various regions in Japan, calling it home. It\u2019s also the largest city in the world. Considering that there is so much diversity within Japan then, it certainly makes sense that there are multiple Japanese dialects.\u00a0<\/p>\n
To find out more about what the main ones are and how you should strategically use your understanding of Japanese dialects in the business sense, keep reading below.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Japanese dialects are variations of the formal Japanese language that are typically used in media, government, and business communication. However, what makes this \u201cformal\u201d Japanese \u201cformal\u201d in the first place? The truth is that the Japanese language has gone through quite a long period of development.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Starting with the attempt to unify it through Standard Japanese, which then developed into a policy of calling it Common Japanese, which now takes into consideration different dialects.\u00a0<\/p>\n
These Japanese dialects may differ based on aspects such as vocabulary, inflections, pitch accents, particle usage, as well as the use and application of some consonants and vowels.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In addition to all this, many prominent linguists have attempted to pinpoint where these different dialects are located. This has led to an east-west division. But unlike a line that can be drawn on a map to signify a physical boundary, this is not really possible with language.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why yet others have even opted for a north-south division, but even this fails to take into account all the intricacies that the language involves.<\/p>\n
Although many have attempted to classify Japanese dialects, the exercise has often been difficult and inconclusive. However, there are around 10 dialects that we were able to pinpoint to help you get a better understanding of the variations in the Japanese language. Here they are:
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Japanese dialects can certainly make the landscape of doing business in Japan that much more difficult. This is because you\u2019re not speaking to one homogenous language group but rather to multiple linguistic communities that communicate with each other and wish to be communicated to in their own ways.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As such, businesses seeking to enter the Japanese market must<\/i> keep these differences in mind in order to ensure that they do not alienate their target market but rather draw them in with deeper cultural and linguistic sensitivity.<\/p>\n