The Dialect Project

Although I am not yet advanced in Spanish and Japanese, I found out that what I’m learning is one side of those languages.  Hypothetically, if you are at an advance level or fluent in a foreign language and you talk to some people who speak that language, is it possible that you may not understand the words that are coming out of their mouths, more or less? If you have learned by textbooks and/or taking classes, then you just may have a shock of your life.  Unsurprisingly, just as the English language, language isn’t completely one sided. There are four factors to really consider when you are learning a language: Standard, dialect, colloquialism, and accent.  In most textbooks and classes, the standard dialect is taught.  The four factors are:

• Dialect – If a language is a tree, then the dialects of the language are its branches.  It’s one of the varieties of language differing in vocabulary, syntax (word order), and morphology (structure of words),and pronunciation.
• Standard — How do I best describe this: One source states, ” a standard language is a particular dialect of a language that has been given either legal or quasi-legal status”.  Basically speaking, it’s language to bring common ground to the masses and have all these enforced  grammar rules to bring order and clarity for all to use and understand.  Some countries, there are many groups and each have their own dialect that others groups might not understand. China is one of them; Mandarin with Beijing dialect is the common speech.
• Colloquialism – This is, no doubt, the “real” language—the common speech; the informal and familiar speech without any regards to standard grammar rules and speaking proper.
• Accent – Linguistically speaking, the manner of pronunciation. It’s sometimes based on dialects or geographic regions.

I decided to make it a project to collect as much info about dialects of any language that I can and even give a basic facts along the way.  The purpose for this is to bring awareness of the richness and complexity of the language and pick up where some textbooks and classrooms overlook.

Along the way, I don’t mind getting help with the project.  One person cannot do it all alone and it’s best to hear it from those who are more familiar with any language that I choose.