Forum Rocket Japanese Japanese Grammar Double usage of "ni wa" particle (Module 4.2)

Double usage of "ni wa" particle (Module 4.2)

JohnB232

JohnB232

In Module 4.2, “What Are You Reading?”, there is the line,

Watashi ni wa sonnani omoshirosou ni wa miemasen.

It does not look very fun to me.

If I attempt to translate more literally I get…

Watashi ni wa … sonnani omoshirosou … ni wa … miemasen.

To me … looks very fun/interesting … [ni wa] … doesn’t seem.
--or--
It doesn’t seem [ni wa] look(s) very fun/interesting to me.

What purpose does the second “ni wa” serve? There wasn’t anything about it in the audio lesson other than a note that it’s repeated, and Module 4.7 doesn't clarify.

Following some research, the only thing I’ve come up with—and may be completely wrong about--is that “ni” can literally be translated as “to,” and “wa” is used a second time not as a topic marker but as a means of either Kenny emphasizing how manga looks to him or to denote contrast (i.e.: versus Sayaka saying manga IS interesting).

If I’m correct with “ni” translating to “to,” I don’t understand how or why other than that "ni" is often a destination particle ("ni" often = "to") and the sentence makes more sense (from an English grammar perspective) with the word “to” in there.

As for “wa,” my guesses of emphasis or contrast are just guesses, no more. If I’m wrong, I don’t understand why; if I'm right, I don't know which.

As for “ni wa” as a whole, then, I suppose I get the gist of the combined usage of particles if my guesses are accurate, but if my guesses are incorrect, well, then I’m pretty clueless.

What’s going on here?                           

Thank you for the help!
Abgueguen

Abgueguen

Good morning. I have the same question. The structure of the sentence is not clear for me. Is there anybody that could explain it ?
Thank you
JohnB232

JohnB232

Did you see this other recent post, yet?

"Using the 'wa' particle twice in a sentence..."
https://members.rocketlanguages.com/members/forum/japanese-grammar/using-the-wa-particle-twice-in-a-sentence
 
Abgueguen

Abgueguen

Hi John
Thanks for directing me to the recent post. It is clear now
Emma-Rocket-Japanese-Tutor

Emma-Rocket-Japanese-Tutor

こんにちは (Konnichiwa) JohnB232 and Abgueguen,

Thank you for your question!
This is a really tricky one, so good job for trying to work it out! 

I have added a little more explanation in the post linked above on how this works. Hopefully it should be a little easier to understand now! 
https://members.rocketlanguages.com/members/forum/japanese-grammar/using-the-wa-particle-twice-in-a-sentence

I hope this helped! Please let me know if you have any other questions!
べんきょう を がんばって ください! (Benkyō o ganbatte kudasai!)
 

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