In Japan-occupied Korea, Koreans often spoke Japanese using phrases and grammar from regional Japanese dialects that they picked up from colonial settlers - mandatory language classes made them unlearn these "vulgar colloquialisms" and speak standard Japanese

 

Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo), June 27, 1942

Shunning the adding of "shi" at the ends of sentences

The Eighth Regular Japanese Language Meeting of Maizuru Girls' High School

Showing off their bowl haircuts, the girls at Maizuru Girls' High School have been holding a regular meeting in public on the Japanese language since November last year in order to find an ethical solution to the suppression of their bad dialectal speech patterns. These suppression efforts have been showing effectiveness with the passing of each meeting and have suddenly become the focus of attention by the educational world in recent days. At the eighth regular meeting of the Japanese language held at 1:00 p.m. on the 25th, more than 80 people, including principals and staff members from public and private girls' schools in Seoul, as well as from Suwon, Kaesong, and Incheon public and private girls' schools, visited the meeting and listened carefully to the proceedings. The meeting was selected as a valuable research resource for the determination of the best future policy for teaching the Japanese language in the Korean peninsula.

As usual, the regular meeting was presided over by one of the school's top students, and with five student stenographers in attendance, the following 450 students gathered in the auditorium to report on the bad words that they had picked up from each other over the past month and to correct them, with the emphasis on "let's correctly use the Japanese language". In particular, they were deeply concerned about vulgar colloquialisms that originated from dialects, and sought to shed light on the belief that the imperialization of the peninsula could only be achieved by starting with a correct Japanese language, which would hasten the foundation of reconciliation between Korea and Japan. Completely attacked were dialectal phrases from certain regions of Japan proper, including the addition of "shi" at the ends of sentences such as "sugoi-shi" (It's great) and "namaikida-shi" (He/she is insolent).

Even the teachers were impressed by the girls' valiant efforts in the Japanese language, which they had never seen before. Once the meeting ended at 4:00 pm, the guests once again shared their excitement about the regular meeting, and leaving with a lasting impression, the attendees dispersed at 5:00 pm. Photo: Japanese Language Roundtable Discussion

Source: https://archive.org/details/kjnp-1942-06-27/page/n3/mode/1up

Reddit Link: In Japan-occupied Korea, Koreans often spoke Japanese using phrases and grammar from regional Japanese dialects that they picked up from colonial settlers - mandatory language classes made them unlearn these "vulgar colloquialisms" and speak standard Japanese : korea (reddit.com)

(Transcription)

京城日報　昭和十七年六月二十七日

語尾の”シ”を敬遠

舞鶴高女の第八回国語常会

お河童頭を振り立てて世に講義する少女達の悪方言弾圧に倫理を発見して昨年十一月から試みられていた京城公立舞鶴高等女学校の国語常会は回を重ねる毎に、その効果をもたらして最近俄かに教育界注目の的となったが、二十五日午後一時から開かれたその第八回国語常会に際しては京城府内各公私立女学校校長並びに職員はじめ遠く水原、開城、仁川各公私立女学校からも校長以下総勢八十余名が見学して、つぶさに常会の模様を傾聴、今後の半島国語常用化の具体的な指導最高方針決定のための貴重な研究資料として、その対照に選ばれることとなった。

常会は例によって同校最高学年生の一人によって司会が行われ、五名の速記学生を配して以下四百五十名の生徒が講堂に集まって一ヶ月間に互いに拾い集めた悪い言葉を報告し合って、それを矯正し「正しい国語を正しく使いましょう」に重点を置いて進んだのであったが、この言葉の中でも殊に方言によって生れた下品な慣用語を深く警戒し、半島の皇国臣民化は全く正しき国語より出発してこそ内鮮融和の基を早めるものであるとの信念に光りを求め、「スゴイシ」「ナマイキダシ」の語尾に「シ」を用いる内地のある地方の方言用語も、ここでは完膚ないまでに攻撃をうけてしまった。

これには並みいる先生方も初めてみる少女達の国語への敢闘に思わず感激の声を放ち、同四時終了を待ち兼ねて来賓一同改めて常会見学の感想を述べ合い、醒めぬ感激を残して五時散会した。【写真＝国語座談会】