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Welcome to the Tohoku-ben General Discussion! This is where we discuss everything related to the Japanese Tohoku-ben dialect, including, but not limited to:

-differences in grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and other things between Tohoku-ben and Tokyo-ben
-recommendations for dictionaries, websites, etc that help you learn

Tōhoku
Tōhoku-ben is spoken in Tōhoku, the northeastern region of Honshu. Toward the northern part of Honshu, Tōhoku-ben can differ so dramatically from standard Japanese that it is rendered with subtitles. It is considered by some to be a slow and "clumsy" dialect with connotations of dawdling or idleness.

A notable linguistic feature of Tōhoku-ben is its neutralization of the high vowels /i/ and /u/, so that the words Sushi, "susu" (ash), and "shishi" (lion) are rendered homophonous, where they would've been distinct in other dialects. It is for this reason that Tōkoku-ben is somewhat pejoratively referred to as "zuzu-ben".

In addition, all unvoiced stops become voiced intervocalically, rendering the pronunciation of the word "kato" (trained rabbit) as [kado]. However, unlike the high vowel neutralization, this does not result in new homophones, as all voiced stops are pre-nasalized, meaning that the word "kado" (corner) is roughly pronounced [kando].

Tsugaru
Shimokita
Nambu
Sendai
Akita
Yamagata, Yamagata-ben
Echigo

websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_dialects
sub dialect Yamagata-ben:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamagata-ben

~although speaking japanese is not required , it is very welcomed if you do.~

Toukyou ben is standard Japanese because it's understood everywhere. But every prefecture at least has a different dialect.