During the summer vacation, I stayed in Yamagata for 2 weeks in order to get my driver's license and I found something interesting there. At first, I could not follow what my instructor said because he spoke to me in a strong Tohoku accent.  However, after a two weeks stay in Yamagata, I could understand most of the conversations of the local people.  In addition, I think Tohoku dialect influenced my intonation in speaking Japanese.Thus I found that a diarect is like a kind of foreign language similar to mine and felt that I acquired the ability to speak a new language. It seems that my stay in Yamagata was also kind of language study for me. 

by Miki