Since a very young age, thanks to karate, manga, and video games (especially DBZ and Street Fighter), I have always been interested in the Japanese language and culture. Last year, I finally started to learn seriously with the book Minna no nihongo in the Tenri School in Paris. The first thing we learn is of course the salutation terms: Ohayo gozaimasu, konnichiwa, konbanwa, and sayonara.
But the thing is, when you learn under only one or two teachers, and you don't practice on a daily basis, you don't hear many variations of the same words and the same sentences, which tend to slow your learning curve, even if your teachers are really good and really nice.
But fortunately, I had the chance in August 2014 to visit Japan and practice the language there. And I have to say, the Japanese language in real life is really different than the Japanese language in classrooms. Thus I learned a lot more during 3 weeks in Japan than during a year in Paris (obviously).
That's why I had the idea to offer to the world some variations of the words konnichiwa and sayonara as pronounced in different region of Japan: Tokyo, Kyoto, and Okinawa. I asked many people to say these two words in front of my camera, and I could then create a video with all these variations:
