Osaka, Kyoto dialect

For somebody who speaks no japanse at all but wants to learn. Would going to a language school in either of these two cities be a bad choice?

I see most people go to Tokyo to learn japanse but due to the high living cost I rather go else where and possibly visit Tokyo another time. My concern is the dialect effecting my learning

To the best of my knowledge - the dialect found in the Kanto region is not that strong anymore. Learning Japanese in a place like Tono in Tohoku would be a challenge though - as even some Japanese find it hard to understand the older people there....

I think mfedley meant to say Kansai instead of Kanto, and I think (s)he has something mixed up, because Tono is a shi with a population of 28,033 people.

Any town in Japan now, moreover cities, are flooded with people that speak in hyojungo (standard Japanese) to you as a common language. Meanwhile, even Tokyo has a dialect they use among locals.

But Osaka/Kyoto is one of the few places where people would speak in dialects even to strangers from other parts of Japan/Earth, since Osaka/Kyoto dialect is so commonly known now. I think that's what the OP is worried about.

I'm afraid I can't answer the OP's question out of experience, since I am originally a Tokyo-ite Japanese, but I keep hearing that just because you start learning Japanese in Osaka/Kyoto, that doesn't make it difficult for you. In fact, those two cities have a great share of expats meaning it probably hasn't been too difficult for them to live there. You will most likely end up to be a fun expat who can speak Kansai dialect just like Edith Hanson.

Thanks for the pickup Uco. I should have said Kansai - not the Kanto plain.

Your also right on Tono - it's Tono-shi. I'm used to the Western spelling....

I studied in Kyoto. The lessons were in proper standard Japanese but yeah I did pick up some Kansai Ben and Kyoto Ben. ( Much to my Kanto husband's annoyance haha ) it occasionally pops out when I speak excitedly but no its never been an issue. I have foreigner friends who speak it fluently and Japanese people are usually very amused but impressed.