News Yamagata Pref. creates dialect guide for foreign workers

Yamagata Prefecture in Tōhoku created a "dialect manual" (やまがた方言マニュアル) for foreign workers at nursing homes who might get lost in translation when communicating with locals.



Six care homes for the elderly conducted a survey in their facilities, selecting 27 commonly used words. The words are explained in English, Romaji and Japanese and take the differences between the dialects of the four local regions into consideration. According to the prefectural government, 124 foreigners, mainly from Vietnam and Myanmar, were working in care facilities in the prefecture. At a training session held once a year by the prefecture, some participants voiced their concern that the dialects were particularly difficult to understand. According to Yamagata health care officials, the number of foreigners is expected to increase in the future.




The official dialect manual can be downloaded here:

This manual is almost as cute as the dialect itself. I don't quite understand the information in the yellow sections, how it all relates to each other. But otherwise this is very neat!

I believe the sections in the yellow boxes refer to local dialect variations.

置賜、最上、庄内、村山４地域の方言の違いも示す。

Click to expand...

Will one day the Japanese govt. will require permanent residents to have a working knowledge of the Japanese language ?

I think its unlikely. I think they are trying to find ways to make it easier for people (well, rich people) to immigrate to Japan.