Let’s Learn Hokkaido Dialect (Hokkaido Ben)!
What is the most important thing to do before traveling to a foreign country? Yes, learning the language! It helps you not only to survive in a place strange to you, but also to impress local people and get closer to them.
In Hokkaido, people speak pretty much standard Japanese without strong accents. However, there are still many words that are unique to Hokkaido. I will teach you 5 basic words in the Hokkaido dialect that you can use right away!
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1. Menkoi = Cute, Adorable
“Menkoi”（めんこい）is a Hokkaido direct version of “kawaii”（かわいい）in the standard Japanese. It is usually used towards children, small animals or small objects. “Menkoi” has more of a caring and affectionate connotation to it compared to the word “kawaii.”
(Kono neko wa menkoi ne)
"This cat is adorable."
2. NAmala = very much
Just like “very much” in English and “totemo”（とても）in the standard Japanese, “namala”（なまら）can be used to stress any adjective. One thing to note is that while “totemo” is a polite word, “namala” is for casual use. It’s closer to “metcha”（めっちゃ）or “cho“（超）, if you are familiar with these words.
(Hokkaido no ramen wa namala oishi)
"Hokkaido ramen is very tasty."
3. Shakkoi = Cold
“Shakkoi”（しゃっこい）is a Hokkaido dialect version of “tsumetai”（つめたい）in the Standard Japanese. Here is one thing to be noted. Japanese has two different words corresponding to “cold” in English.
To describe the temperature of an physical object is cold - “tsumetai” (Standard Japanese), “shakkoi” (Hokkaido idalect)
To describe the weather or climate is cold - “samui”
The easy way to remember this rule is that basically for anything you can touch, you can use “shakkoi/tsumetai” ;)
(Samukute te ga shakkoi!)
"It (the weather) is cold, so (my) hands are cold!"
4. Waya = Messy, Chaotic
“Waya”（わや）is an unique word in the Hokkaido dialect, since there is no word in the Standard Japanese that can describe the concept of “waya” 100%. You can use this word when something or a situation is messy, chaotic or awful in a serious way or even a funny way - very useful! This is a colloquial expression often used by not only older people but younger generations as well.
(Ima watashi no heya waya dakara, souji suru ne.)
"My room is messy now, so I'm going to clean up."
5. Nashite? = Why?
“Nashite”（なして）is a casual word to ask why. You can just throw this word anytime you wonder why when talking to Hokkaido people!
「北海道の人はからあげをザンギと言うんだよ。」
(Hokkaido no hito wa karaage wo zangi to iundayo.)
"People in Hokkaido call karaage (Japanese fried chiken) "zangi"."
「そうなの？なして？」
(Sou nano? Nashite?)
"Is that so? Why?"
This is all for the lesson 101!
Hope you’ll have a chance to use these words when you travel to Hokkaido sometime soon! Make sure to follow me on social media for some fun Hokkaido content :)
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