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I have encountered a number of passages with 〜けん in 佐賀のがばいばあちゃん. I'm not quite
sure what it means exactly. I've seen instances where it appears to mean から
and others where it appears to mean けど. I'm not sure if my interpretation is
correct or not.

The following are some examples.

> 「そりゃ行きたいけん、お金がなかと」

p. 94, ch. 7

"I want to go [there] but I don't have any money"?

けん=けど？

> 「明日から、昭広がごはんをたくんやけん、よう見ときんしゃい」

p. 28, ch. 2

"From tomorrow you'll be cooking your own meals, so watch carefully"?

やけん=だから

> 「先生、すいません。あれは伊勢エビじゃなくてザリガニです。私がこの子に、伊勢エビて言うてたけん.....」

p. 57, ch. 4

"I'm sorry, sir. Actually, it wasn't spiny lobster; it was crayfish. I told
this boy it was spiny lobster, though..."?

けん=けど？

If someone could clarify the meaning of けん, that would be very helpful.
Thanks!
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question
translation dialects
けん in 佐賀 dialect
Dictionary says:

> 言い切りの形に付いて、理由・原因を表す。ゆえに。から。 〔現在でも中国・四国・九州地方で用いるところがある〕

It's a well known 方言 word (繋辞/copula?).
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A number of online sources
([1](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BD%90%E8%B3%80%E5%BC%81#.E5.8A.A9.E8.A9.9E),
[2](https://twitter.com/gabai_saga/status/493492905051316224), [3](http://mon-
hikara.travel.coocan.jp/sagaben.htm),
[4](https://wiki.chakuriki.net/index.php/%E4%BD%90%E8%B3%80%E3%81%AE%E8%A8%80%E8%91%89))
all say that けん is a rough equivalent to から; I found no mention of a けど-like
meaning (ばってん should be closer to けど). I think your けど examples can plausibly
be reframed as から：

> 「そりゃ行きたいけん、お金がなかと」

行きたいから、お金がないの？  
“I'd like to go over there, so don't you have some cash?”

> 私がこの子に、伊勢エビて言うてたけん.....

“It's because I told him that it was lobster… (that he made a mistake).”

I can't tell whether that make sense without more context, but you can look at
the original text and try to see whether you can interpret the sentences as
から.
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けん and its variants are widely used in the western/southern parts of Japan
including Kyushu. I grew up in an area in Shikoku where けん only meant "～から
(because)". Your last two examples look easy and straightforward to me because
these けん obviously mean "because".

>   * 明日から、昭広がごはんをたくんやけん、よう見ときんしゃい。  
>  Akihiro, because you're going to cook rice from tomorrow, you must watch
> carefully.
>   * 私がこの子に、伊勢エビて言うてたけん...  
>  Coz I was telling him it's an 伊勢エビ...
>

* * *

However I was not familiar with the usage of けん in your first example, where
けん seems to mean "although".

>   * そりゃ行きたいけん、お金がなかと。  
>  Of course I want to go, _but_ I have no money.
>

I've found articles that say at least in 宮崎弁, けん is used similarly to ～けど
([source
1](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%AE%AE%E5%B4%8E%E5%BC%81#.E8.AA.9E.E4.BE.8B),
[source
2](http://www.geocities.jp/mnjrh560/m-dic/html/tdv216.html?#13166740688401)).

> はらへった **けん** めしがねえわ  
>  例訳：「腹減った **けど** ごはんがないわ」

佐賀 is not far away from 宮崎, so けん may also mean けど in 佐賀弁.
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