Lost in Translation?

みんなん、おはよおございます！おげんきですか？ In addition to the grammar material, provided through RJ, I've also been using other resources - books, written by other authors, to TRY and help me through this process of learning Japanese and learning it well! I wanted to clarify, how much can translating japanese to english, be okay? I have the following sentence, which I wanted to share with you: 窓の近くに女の子がいます。(Mado no chikaku ni onna no ko ga imasu.) Now, I translated this sentence as being: The girl is close/near to the window. But the text translated it to: There is a girl near the window. In my mind, I don't see the Soko/Sochira to warrant a 'There' in the text translation. What am I missing? Do the particles make the text translation, valid? Please help 2. How would I identify, whether the person being referred to is a man or a woman? (I find this a lot when I'm reading or maybe I'm not that onto it......?) (This is a scenerio, where two males are conversing with each other.) Ex. ﾎﾜｲﾄさんはいつ日本に来ますか？　Howaito-san wa itsu Nihon ni kimasu ka? I do apologise for using other material references but as I mentioned above, I really love learning japanese and I want to learn it well! It was because of your course, that gave me the motivation to learn japanese! I don't trust a lot of online tutorial programs but you know what, I am so glad I purchased this! Please don't think that I'm diverting from your program. It is definitely not the case! I want to complete your program and to complete it well! よろしくお願いします、皆さん！

[quo]*Quote from * miastar 窓の近くに女の子がいます。(Mado no chikaku ni onna no ko ga imasu.) Now, I translated this sentence as being: The girl is close/near to the window. But the text translated it to: There is a girl near the window. In my mind, I don't see the Soko/Sochira to warrant a 'There' in the text translation. What am I missing? Do the particles make the text translation, valid? Please help 2. How would I identify, whether the person being referred to is a man or a woman? (I find this a lot when I'm reading or maybe I'm not that onto it......?) (This is a scenerio, where two males are conversing with each other.) Ex. ﾎﾜｲﾄさんはいつ日本に来ますか？　Howaito-san wa itsu Nihon ni kimasu ka? よろしくお願いします、皆さん！[/quo] 1. The text is correct, and what the "There" is acting more as is the translation of いる, in other words its more denoting that the girl is in existence rather than conveying the girl's location. 2. I would translate that as "Mr. White, When are you coming to Japan?".

Oh wait with #2 you wanted to know gender... well I guess that would have to be determined by context and well if this were a real situation then well there are ways of knowing...

Ah, わかたね, デーレーコさん。 Thank you for clarifying both questions for me. I guess in relation to question #2, I can either get a 50% right or a 50% wrong answer! Thanks again for your time. Much appreciated. ありがとうございました！

[quo]*Quote from * miastar Ah, わかたね, デーレーコさん。 Thank you for clarifying both questions for me. I guess in relation to question #2, I can either get a 50% right or a 50% wrong answer! Thanks again for your time. Much appreciated. ありがとうございました！[/quo] ミァースターさん、こんにちは！ 一つは「デレック」と言いますください。 二つはどう致しまして！ それではまたね、 デレック

Miastar and Derek-san, Just a supplement explanation to Derek-san's wonderful response... 窓の近くに女の子がいます。(Mado no chikaku ni onna no ko ga imasu.) Can be literally translated as: _"Near the window-girl-exists/is present."_ or _"Near the window - is a girl."_ So, you are correct in saying that there is no "there" word in the sentence. As Derek-san has pointed out, the verb *'imasu'* is used when speaking of people or other animate things as "existing." *'imasu'* expresses _"to exist/to be present."_ When speaking of the presence of a person, i.e. the girl - *'imasu'* is used to convey _"the girl is there"_ or _"the girl is here."_ Thus, the phrase in question can be translated as _"The girl is near the window."_ And alternatively, depending on the context - for example - if saying *Mite kudasai! Mado no chikaku ni onna no ko ga imasu.* _"Please look! There is a girl near the window."_ The "there" word is added to add emphasis to the phrase. -Sayaka :P