origin about topical wa
chance
However, I have recently discovered a more close equivalent in English to 'wa'
is 'when it comes to'. Is this new to everyone or old news?
This new find comes from an actual usage of the 'when it comes to' in Japanese.
Ben Finney
> Hitherto, I've known most of explanations about 'wa' was 'as for'.
> However, I have recently discovered a more close equivalent in English
> to 'wa' is 'when it comes to'. Is this new to everyone or old news?
It's old news for NSoE, I'm sure.
English does not have the discrete “topic” grammatical concept, so there
is no one-to-one mapping from the topic 「○○は」 to the topic in an
English passage.
Therefore, you'll find many different approximations, with “As for ○○”
and “When it comes to ○○” and many others. Moreover, it's much more
common in an English passage for the topic to be even less clearly
marked, and inferred indirectly through context, since those passages
are formed by people who don't have the Japanese-language concept of a
distinct grammatical topic.
--
\ “Our wines leave you nothing to hope for.” —restaurant menu, |
`\ Switzerland |
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Ben Finney
Bart Mathias
> "chance" <cinc...@yahoo.co.kr> writes:
>
>> Hitherto, I've known most of explanations about 'wa' was 'as for'.
>> However, I have recently discovered a more close equivalent in English
>> to 'wa' is 'when it comes to'. Is this new to everyone or old news?
>
> It's old news for NSoE, I'm sure.
>
> English does not have the discrete “topic” grammatical concept, so there
> is no one-to-one mapping from the topic 「○○は」 to the topic in an
> English passage.
There's pretty good mapping in *spoken* English.
I realize that's sort of beside the point when we're talking about 「○○
は」 and not [...wa]. :-)
Bart
Ben Finney
> There's pretty good mapping in *spoken* English.
>
> I realize that's sort of beside the point when we're talking about
> 「○○ は」 and not [...wa]. :-)
うわああぁ〜！
--
\ “Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion |
`\ is answers that may never be questioned.” —anonymous |
_o__) |
Ben Finney
chance
"Ben Finney" <bignose+h...@benfinney.id.au> wrote in message news:87iqd6g...@benfinney.id.au...
> Bart Mathias <mat...@hawaii.edu> writes:
>
>> There's pretty good mapping in *spoken* English.
>>
>> I realize that's sort of beside the point when we're talking about
>> 「○○ は」 and not [...wa]. :-)
>
> うわああぁ〜！
What is that? Is it Japanese?
Did you mean 'funny' or 'surprisng' by saying,
うわああぁ〜！?
If it is either of them, what is so funny
and what is so surprising respectively?
Ben Finney
> "Ben Finney" <bignose+h...@benfinney.id.au> wrote in message news:87iqd6g...@benfinney.id.au...
> > Bart Mathias <mat...@hawaii.edu> writes:
> >> I realize that's sort of beside the point when we're talking
> >> about「○○ は」 and not [...wa]. :-)
> >
> > うわああぁ〜！
>
> What is that? Is it Japanese?
It's bogus Manga-inspired Japanese, playful rather than testimonial.
Very little to do with the point at hand; feel free to ignore it.
--
\ “Laugh and the world laughs with you; snore and you sleep |
`\ alone.” —anonymous |
_o__) |
Ben Finney