What is "Tosa-Ben"?

[Johnathan]

Here's the story. There's this video game. Capcom vs. SNK. And there's a female character in it named Yuri. And there was this site which showed ALL the Japanese - English translations from that game. And ya see, one of her sayings is "Kojanto Kuruchi!" I think that's how it's spelled... might be kurucchi. I dunno. But on the translation site, it says...


1. (Intro) Kojanto Kuruchi! = (I don't think there's a direct translation for this, since I hear that it's her own phrase!)


So I searched for a translation myself, and on a site, found this...


TOSA-BEN
Kojanto

JAPANESE
hijoni, taihen

ENGLISH
extremely, terribly


And I thought, "Tosa-Ben? What is that? It seems Japanese..." Is Tosa-Ben a Japanese dialect? I wasn't even aware Japanese HAD extra dialects!

But more importantly, my main question is... what does "kojanto kuruchi" mean? Can anyone help?

 

[lightman]

Hi Johnathan,

Tosaben is a dialect spoken in Kochi Prefecture (on Shikoku island)

'kurushi' is standard Japanese and means painful,
I guess 'kojanto', is similar to 'taihen' in Tosaben, that's like 'mecha' in Kansaiben.
so 'kojanto kuruchi' means 'terribly painful'

Guess that girl in the game must be fom Kochi prefecture.

Regards,
-lightman

 

[Mandylion]

Lightman is right in his translation.

Tosa-ben is not the only dialect in Kochi. Where I live, Tosa-ben is what all those big city slickers in Kochi City speak. Down here in the SW corner of Kochi, we few and proud speak Hata-ben. We'll whip anybody who sez diffren'!