Many people in Japan lead a double life -- linguistically speaking, that is. In their community, they speak the hogen (dialect) of their city, town or village, while outside it they may be accustomed to use hyojungo (standard Japanese). Their native language, in the true sense of that word, is their dialect, not hyojungo.

Take Kyoto-ben (Kyoto dialect). A Kyoto woman who works in a large office with people who were born in various parts of Japan would speak standard Japanese. When she phones her son, however, who didn't go to school because of the flu, she switches back into Kyoto-ben. "Kaze do? Yo natta? (or "Kaze do? Yoku natta?" in standard Japanese). In response to being asked if his condition has improved, the boy says, "Akan yo" instead of the standard "Dame da," both of which mean, "I feel bloody rotten!"

Naturally, Japanese are most at home speaking their native dialect, and this would be the case in almost any other country as well. But in Japan there is something that might be called "the tyranny of the standard language."