は and が and English vs Japanese

[molly3209]

こんにちは、

奈津子せんせい has been kindly helping me understand は and が, especially through the comments of this lesson here:

http://www.japanesepod101.com/2010/04/2 ... wa-and-ga/

In the course of my studies I came across an interesting case. I want to have it double-checked here, but if my understanding of は and が are correct (in this one case at least), it can demonstrate a difference in *thinking* between English and Japanese.

Based on the sample conversation from the above-mentioned lesson's comments:

A: Bさん、どんな動物が好きですか。
B: (私は動物は) 犬が好きです。
A: 猫は？
B: 猫は少し好きです。Aさんは？
A:

English version:

A: B, What kind of animals do you like?
B: (I like) dogs.
A: How about cats?
B: I like cats a little. How about you?
A:

So here's the contrast. What does A answer for the last line? What full question is A answering?

Hopefully I haven't misunderstood....but I believe that Japanese-version A answers the question "どんな動物が好きですか。" (What kind of animals do you like?) and English-version A answers the question "Do you like cats (too)?"

Please tell me I haven't completely messed up here (crosses fingers) (actually, please tell me if I have! )

よろしくお願いします。
モリー

[mmmason8967]

I have to say at the outset that I don't know the answer. But I'm inclined to agree with you.

I think that in English the last question seems to be a run-on from the "I like cats a little" phrase, rather as if it was actually "I like cats a little, how about you?" You could change that by slightly altering the wording: "I like cats a little. <pause> But how about you, though?", which disconnects the topic from "cats" and reconnects it to the original question. Which is kind-of, sort-of what I think happens in the Japanese version.

In the Japanese version, the 「Aさんは？」 changes the topic to Aさん but I don't think it changes it from the 猫は sub-topic (because apart from anything else that would make no sense), but instead changes it from the over-arching 「Bさんは」 topic and so reconnects the original question.

Does that make any sense?

マイケル

[molly3209]

マイケルさん、

答えをありがとうございます！

Re-reading my post I see how I was really unclear, sorry about that! I wanted to make sure I understood the ending of the Japanese version of the conversation (and you responded!, I thank you very kindly for that ). I actually tested the English version with some victi- I mean "subjects" (in the US). We did use a pause between "I like cats." and "What about you?" It was 2 to 3 seconds maybe, any longer and it would've been awkward. The people playing Person A immediately responded with something about cats thinking that's what the question referred to. They were English-speaking natives or English-fluent (native language was not Asian). They were given only their own lines; they didn't know what B was going to say or ask.

[Although this post is in response to Michael-san's post, it's not meant to be Michael-san-targeted only ]

My idea is that while a Japanese speaker keeps in mind the overall "topic" an English speaker focuses mostly on the current "subject". I picture a Japanese conversation as a large circle representing a topic and inside the circle are various subjects. English is more like a train. Each car is a subject and they are linked but the conversation stays with the most recent subject.

I'm just trying to come up with other ways that help describe は and が. I see why "topic" and "subject" are used, but I think multiple approaches are useful because the way someone thinks influences language and vice versa. In addition to feedback for what I was testing, I'd love to hear more ideas for describing は and が

Molly (モリー)

[community.japanese]

モリーさん、マイケルさん、
さすが。このスレッドはレベルが高いですね～
Thank you very much for a super productive thread here!

I think マイケル san has a good point: it might keep "the sub-topic" (= cats).
To be 100% honest, the way B-san asked A-san gave open options for answers (a.k.a. "vague").
If I were A-san, I might first ask what the question is.

Japanese often does that
It's a lazy and loose language Sometimes it allows too many possibilities to stay in
one sentence

Natsuko (奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com