• Registered: 2009-08-24
  • Posts: 1

Topic: Difference between ka and ga

Las partículas 「は」 y 「が」 nos parecen muy similares debido a que es imposible traducir la diferencia al español. Por ejemplo, la traducción de 「私は学生」 y 「私が学生」 es: “yo soy estudiante” *. Pero sólo se parecen porque el español no puede expresar información sobre el contexto de forma tan concisa como lo hace a veces el japonés. En la primera frase 「私は学生」, como 「私」 es el tema, la frase significa "hablando de mí, soy estudiante". Sin embargo, en la segunda frase, 「私」 está especificando quién es el estudiante: 「学生」. Si nosotros queremos saber quién es el estudiante, la partícula 「が」 nos indica que es 「私」.

While I was reading the Spanish section, I came across this paragraph, which appears to be a good translation from the English counterpart, but I see a little problem: in English it says "it is impossible to translate the difference directly into English", and in the Spanish version it says "into Spanish". However, Spanish is not English, and there is actually a way of translating the difference in this case:

私は学生 = Soy estudiante
私が学生 = Yo soy estudiante

Of course, you cannot use this method to translate systematically ka and ga, because there isn't anything like that in Spanish, but in this particular case, that "yo" (meaning "I") is used when you want to make a contrast between you and other possible people, or highlight yourself against the others. In this case, maybe it can help others to appreciate the subtle differences between both sentences.

Anyway, it is just a suggestion.

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  • furrykef
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  • Registered: 2009-08-17
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Re: Difference between ka and ga

You mean "wa" and "ga" rather than "ka" and "ga", I think. smile Hmm. I'm not sure it really captures the nuance very well.

For example, compare this:

Yo fui al mercado, pero él fue al parque.

In this sentence, the subject pronouns are used to emphasize contrast. But, in Japanese, this contrast is expressed with wa:

私は市場に行きましたが、彼は公園に行きました。

It may not be immediately apparent to readers what really makes this different from "Yo soy estudiante", which you translated with "ga". Basically, the choice between wa and ga depends too much on the surrounding context, and as you can see, this applies when translating from Spanish just as much as it does when translating from English.

- Kef

Last edited by furrykef (2009-09-01 17:45:51)

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