my brain: "wa" = "is"

[metablue]

I've had this problem from the beginning - my brain has mapped "wa" onto "is". I know it's wrong, but it just happens automatically. If I hear "watashi wa", I can't help but think of it as "I am".

Recently I've tried imagining a comma or a pause after the "wa", and that seems to help.
"watashi wa, metablue desu."

Anyone else have this problem? Any suggestions for fixing it?

[maxiewawa]

I don't think it's such a big problem. You don't have to mentally translate EVERYTHING the way it is in the books.

[metablue]

That's the thing though, I don't want to be mentally translating it, much less into something wrong. It also causes me problems when "is" doesn't really fit. eg "kyou wa nemui desu". I automatically read that as something like "today is sleepy" rather than "today, I'm sleepy".

[jemstone]

you could read it as "today am sleepy" (with reference to your "watashi wa" as "i am") and that would give you the same meaning.

[Shaydwyrm]

If you want to try replacing your gloss with a more accurate one, I think "as for" is the most accurate one I've seen for the particle は. For example,

すしは嫌いです。
すしはきらいです。
"As for sushi, I hate it."

In the end, though, I think you're going to want to dispense with translating は altogether, at least when reading, since it doesn't really have a proper English equivalent. Think of it as setting a topic or scope for the rest of the sentence.

[jemstone]

in a traditional language such as japanese, already there is the idea of "polymorphism" in place... and reusability too! a single "wa" component used and reused in many different context.

but yes, back to the topic, it would be better to just leave out the "wa" particle (and most of the other particles for that matter) while reading. your brain will be able to piece it together on it's own.

much like when we read the paragraph above this one, we could read it like this,
"yes, back topic, better just leave out "wa" particle reading. brain able piece together."
you'd be able to get the gist of it anyway.

[metablue]

Cool, thanks for the ideas.

Most of all, I want to think of "wa" the way a Japanese speaker would, but that's really hard to express without putting it into English somehow. To a native speaker, in certain contexts, the "wa" might just emphasize a certain part of the sentence. Like "kyou <=, nemui desu." or "kyou nemui desu." I want to train my brain to think of the concept "as for", without actually using the English words. Perhaps it just takes a lot more repetition.

[sphere]

I may sound strange, but I find that sometimes, it reminds me of reversed polish notation.

example
すしは美味しいです。
(すし, 美味しい)です。
(sushi, delicious)is

私はすしが美味しいと思います。
(私,(すし,美味しい) ) 思います。
(I, (sushi, delicious)[is]) think

私はスーパーへ買い物に行きます。
( I, towards: supermarket, to: buy things ) go

私は姉にプレゼントを貰いました。
(I, from: my sister, of: present ) received

私は彼が学校へ行くのかどうか興味ではありません。
(I, (he, to:school) go or not? ) not interested

So it becomes quite clear that certain particles do not have literal translated counterparts, but they confer certain naunces (e.g. is, from, on, at, when) which CAN be added in english though they are not literally translated parts.

Wonder if anybody else think of it this way??
(pardon me if any mistakes is made above!)