In the first days of life on the island, it was quite difficult to communicate with the locals because they have a strong accent. Generally, people speak in different accents between east Japan and west Japan. I was born and raised in Saitama prefecture next to Tokyo which is east Japan, and I hadn’t been used to the western accent. Also, people on the island use the vocabulary of their own district. I didn’t have young friends in those days, and I liked spending time with aged people, it was harder to understand what they were talking about because they were using much more dialect.
It reminded me of my first days in Italy. 4 years before I moved to Toshijima Island, I stayed in Italy for 1 year to study Italian. Naturally, I didn’t speak Italian very well at first, and I went to bed early every night, it was because not only the jet rug, also I spent a lot of energy using my brain. You know the brain consumes most of the energy. The same thing was happening to me on this island in Japan. They were speaking totally different language!!
I’m really sorry I can’t explain how the Toshijima dialect and the standard Japanese are different in English. However, I can tell some episodes.
My parents sometimes come to the island to see me, and I introduce them to my neighbors, aged people don’t care if my parents understand their dialect or not, and talk indifferently. After leaving them, my parents say “We didn’t understand what they were talking about, we needed you to translate.”
The way younger people do is interesting. They know their vocabulary is particular, so when they talk with people from other places, they try to use standard words. I have noticed they were about to say a word from the dialect then stop it and said a standard word not just once.
Now I’ve been here for 4 years, and I mostly understand Toshijima dialect, as a matter of fact, I sometimes peak that language. I’m trying not to forget the standard Japanese.