# まぁ、そんなものですかな？



## Soaringxg32

Hello. I have seen this construction used various times in Japanese text, but I cannot really put my finger on as to what it could mean definitively.

人類の進歩と調和に役立つもの・・・例えば
ディフレクターに代わる
新しいエネルギーとか
まぁ、そんなものですかな？

Personally, I believe it to be something

of tremendous importance to mankind. Something that will help us better

ourselves and the world. Perhaps, a new energy source, more powerful than

our current refractors.

**My attempt at figuring this out**

It's something of tremendous importance for the progress of mankind. For example, a new energy source to replace refractors, or something like that, perhaps?


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## Flaminius

Yes, it's something like that.  I am probably too rigorous but I won't use a question mark to end _desukana_.  There is no element of asking a question here; only a weak assertion that would pass for a polite remark.


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## Soaringxg32

First thanks for the reply. I wrote out the Japanese text above exactly how it appears in the video game Mega Man Legends 2. It is written with a question mark for some strange reason. Maybe it sounds more natural in Japanese that way. I don't know, I'm not a native.


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## SoLaTiDoberman

人類の進歩と調和に役立つものと言えば、ディフレクターに代わる新しいエネルギーですかな？
人類の進歩と調和に役立つものと言えば、例えば、ディフレクターに代わる新しいエネルギー*とか*ですかな？
人類の進歩と調和に役立つものと言えば、例えば、ディフレクターに代わる新しいエネルギー*とかそんなもの*ですかな？
人類の進歩と調和に役立つものと言えば、例えば、ディフレクターに代わる新しいエネルギー*(とか、まあ、そんなもの)*ですかな？

The bold parts mean "something like that."
The question mark belonged to the more basic sentence syntax, not the part, "something like that."

_"If I am asked something useful for mankind, it would be the new energy, wouldn't it?"_

It is not merely a simple question, but more like a rhetorical question or a "tag" question, asking the agreement or confirmation, or just emphasizing.

It's easy, isn't it?
簡単でしょう？


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## Flaminius

簡単でしょう? - This expects an affirmative or a negative answer (my answer being a firm negative).
Rhetorical questions like いつまで遊んでるの? could yield an answer in terms of yes or no.  So they both can use a question mark.

Yet, そんなものですかな here is not that simple.  It _may_ be a question if the speaker is checking with the listener if they admit a replacement for the deflector/refractor as an example of things that promotes progress and peace for the humanity.  I don't think, however, it a question if the speaker is giving a throw-away example of what they themselves recognise as an advancement.  The latter, in my opinion, cannot use a question mark.


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## SoLaTiDoberman

SoLaTiDoberman said:


> It's easy, isn't it?
> 簡単でしょう？


In #4, I tried to explain to convince Soaringxg32 that the usage of the question maker in this context was quite common in both Japanese and English. So he or she doesn't need to think it in a difficult way.
And on the premises that I succeeded in getting him or her convinced, I said, "It's easy, isn't it?"
Therefore, it meant only affirmative.
"It is easy! Only if you have been convinced by my explanation." 
If I think it in a difficult way, "Only if you have been convinced by my explanation." is the function of "?"
In other words, "?" can indicate "in-confidence" or "less confident" or "more modest" or "confused" or something like that.
Anyway, I think it's still common in English as well.

Now the matter has become "not so simple" now, when we think of something deeper.
The deeper we think of it, the more difficult it would become.

Okay, how about this?
_*You may think that "?" equals "".*_
In the Japanese language grammar, you don't have to use "?" even in the end of an apparently simple question sentence.
Therefore, "?" in Japanese may have some special intention of the writer, which can be represented by "".

”ご納得いただけますかな？”
”ご納得いただけますかな ”


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## Flaminius

SoLaTiDoberman said:


> In other words, "?" can indicate "inconfident" or "less confident" or "more modest" or something like that.


Ah, okay, that's what you meant by the question mark.  This is what I consider an abuse of question marks.



SoLaTiDoberman said:


> Okay, how about this?
> _*You may think that "?" equals "".*_


I don't get what you mean.  An icon is a written symbol and we don't use it in conversation.


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## SoLaTiDoberman

Flaminius said:


> I don't get what you mean.  An icon is a written symbol and we don't use it in conversation.


If I understand the context correctly, it was not a spoken conversation, but it was written in the video game.
I imagine that the game is like ドラゴンクエスト, in which  written despriptions appear one after another.
↓


Soaringxg32 said:


> I wrote out the Japanese text above exactly how it appears in the video game Mega Man Legends 2. It is written with a question mark for some strange reason. Maybe it sounds more natural in Japanese that way. I don't know, I'm not a native.



See?

 Am I misunderstanding something?


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## Flaminius

Oh, my.  I think I confused the scope of the discussion with something irrelevant.  I should have said icons are not punctuations.

I don't accept the question mark is equal to an icon of a face with three question marks over its head.  Whatever that means, you'd have to explain it.  After all, icons are neither punctuations nor words.


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## SoLaTiDoberman

I was talking about what "?" meant in a figurative manner.
I didn't mean that  = ?, completely.

It was a figurative explanation, for an easy understanding of its function or meaning.
If  has some ambiguity, the same ambiguity was included in the "?" in Japanese,I think.

I'd like to retract my explanation, if it made things more difficult to understand for the original poster.
And I'd apologize the confusion which I made here. 
I will stop posting here any more because my post seems to bring about confusion, instead of the better understanding that I am aiming for.


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