#having so many thoughts about dialects and accents that i didnt consider before bc of this ask might put it on my sideblog adanaac

[youkaigakkou-tl]

any thoughts on a different speech patterns and dialects of the different characters? also why does rintarou speak a bit old-ish sometimes in the official english translations, is that the translators way of conveying his dialect?

Ah yeah character voice is one of those things the official does really well and I’m trying to be better at.

Rintarou talks in Kyoto dialect, which I’m now realising is way deeper ingrained in his characterization than just word choices. Kyoto, having been the capital for over 1000 years, has a bit of a reputation for being pretentious because of that, and the dialect is also seen as elegant or polite. At the same time, people from Kyoto also have a reputation of being two-faced because of the euphemisms they use to sound polite (for example, saying “that’s a nice watch” actually means “it’s time for you to shut up”)

This maps oddly well onto what a british accent means in english (sounding fancy and prissy and passive-aggressive) to the point that I wonder if sensei knew that writing this joke

It’s also pointed out multiple times (sports day and yoseito flashback, off the top of my head) that he’s doing the accent on purpose, or at the very least playing it up, probably to maintain that image of his.

Despite being from Osaka, Haruaki talks in standard Japanese (or “Tokyo dialect”) most likely to be easier to read since he’s the MC. Amaaki does talk in Osaka dialect though, and despite Kyoto and Osaka being geographically close, sounding kinda similar and both being grouped under “Kansai dialect”, they give off totally different impressions. As a mercantile city, Osaka doesn’t have the passive-aggressive reputation of Kyoto and the dialect is considered more straightforward and casual. Typically when you see “Kansai dialect”, it’s probably referring to Osaka dialect specifically.

Well. I’m not American so I’ll take it at most translators’ words that it's the equivalent of a southern US accent.(not like I’ve been to Japan or the UK either)

(Side note, Tanamai sensei is from Mie, which is in Kansai, which I imagine is why she’s familiar with these dialects and has characters who speak in dialect in the first place)

The principal is also noted to talk differently now than 1000 years ago but that’s really just down to word choice, like using more polite language and using honorifics I think. (1000 years ago he didn’t use honorifics for anyone basically. Also he used “ore” before and TIL he uses “watashi” now??? That’s an insane pivot in formality I get why Byakko was so shocked now just based off this one thing) They don’t actually use Japanese from 1000 years ago in the flashback because it would be incomprehensible, in the way Old English is incomprehensible.

The one student with a really stand-out character voice is Satsuki, who talks in this kind of stilted way that does not use contractions, which might be how the official tl translated the way she talks in very bare-bones (??? lmao) Japanese and tacks on “-desu” at the end of every sentence. (Double checked the Chinese tl, it also has her talk in a very staccato way. Interesting)

(In the end. I’m not great at picking up if a character speaks in dialect unless it’s pointed out because my Japanese sucks and the Chinese translation makes everyone sound kind of the same.)