So you know how in anime, the characters with the Kansai dialect (often Osakans) are usually mocked since they speak funny, so I guess they're like the Texans of Japan. Is this common to see in real life? Is being from Osaka the worst thing that a Japanese person can do?
Hardly. If anything, it’s the most prestigious dialect outside of Tokyo. It also has the most speakers, so it is more recognizable than Aomori-ben or other lects.
Osaka dialect specifically is associated with comedy routines, merchants haggling, and the Osaka yakuza. None of these groups are held in high regard, so that accounts for much of the stigma. There is also an East-West rivalry dynamic, with Tokyo media types making fun of the citizens of Japan’s second largest city.
Basically, most dialect are (were) kinda mocked and a lot of natives still try their best to completely hide their dialect as they grow older (well, in high school and university, I think).
It's a common thing in all languages, not really specific to japan. But in a lot of countries, that changed a lot in the recent years. Like I can't talk for every countries but in France, for example, dialect are now promoted and you can even study them in school or in university. But in japan, that's still not the case from what I know. It's changing but dialect are still kinda looked down upon (for various reason). Like, you can't speak standard japanese and you sound a bit like a "country bumpkin".
At the same time, not all dialects are treated equally. There are some that sounds "cuter", "better", "worse", etc. And in the case of Kansai dialect, it's a bit special. I don't remember from when but the kansai dialect was promoted thanks kansai comedien. So much, that some kansai dialect almost became a part of standard japanese. Nowadays, it's also promoted by youtuber for comedic effect. So in that aspect, it's more like a lot of people love kansai dialect. It's even one of the best way to make jokes (if you know what manzai is, well, a tsukkomi pun with a kansai expression like "なんでやんねん" is a very effective way to get some laught).
But for kansai people, the feeling may not always be the same. Because people often poorly imitate their dialect. Also kansai speaker are known for having a "strong" character in general. So they kinda react even more to that kind of things. Maybe in the past, that's also why they have that image of being "mocked". Which is probably also true. Japanese avoid confrontation, in general, and well, compared to other japanese, they do stand out. So that maybe why they were more mocked than other and had that image.
Anyway, to sum up, amongst the younger generation, not really. Especially with youtube, tik tok, etc. But if you going to speak kansai dialect speaker with a kansai dialect, be careful because they may think that you are mocking them or not taking their dialect seriously. Foreigner kinda get a free pass compared to native japaneses but still.
