# 自分で日本語の勉強をしようかどうか考えています



## indivisibility

Hi all, I'm new here and need some help...

I want to translate the sentence "I'm considering whether or not to study Japanese BY MYSELF" into Japanese, but am not sure how.

My attempt: 自分で日本語の勉強をしようかどうか考えています。

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you.


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## kaito

You want to convey that you already made up your mind on studying Japanese and are just considering whether to do it yourself or by some other means ?


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## indivisibility

Err I intended to convey the sense of considering "studying Japanese by myself" (as an option) rather than by any other means.


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## kaito

Well the it isn't really clear to me whether you're considering merely the method, the study, or both.

自分で日本語を勉強するかどうかを考えています
自分で日本語を勉強するかどうかを検討しています

Are my guesses

After looking at more examples I think both should work but I'm not quite sure about the difference, looking at the kanji I'd guess 検討 is more selective...


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## akimura

kaito said:


> Well the it isn't really clear to me whether you're considering merely the method, the study, or both.
> 
> 自分で日本語を勉強するかどうかと考えています。
> 
> Is my guess.



Well, the initial proposal "自分で日本語の勉強をしようかどうか考えています。" sounds perfect enough in terms of grammar and naturalness. "自分*自身*で日本語の勉強をしようかどうか考えています。(I'm considering whether or not to study Japanese BY MY*SELF*)" might be an alternative solution.　"自分自身で日本語を勉強しようかどうか考えています。” sounds even more perfect, though.

"自分で日本語を勉強するかどうか*と考えています。*" is gramatically okay but it doesn't sound as natural as Japanese native's speech, since it sounds like "I am thinking, 'Do I study Japanese by myself?'"    The addition of  *と* makes the effect of a direct narration style when it's translated into English, and "thinking" may be a better word than "considering".

To me a English learner, however, to-infinitive as in "I'm considering whether or not to study Japanese by myself." sounds just a little unclear.  That's something I would rather like to ask.  If it could be rephrased as one of the following English sentences, the corresponding Japanese sentence would be reflecting the idea of the English sentence better.

I'm considering whether or not I would study Japanese by myself.
自分自身で日本語の勉強をしようかどうか考えています。 or
自分自身で日本語を勉強しようかどうか考えています。

I'm considering whether or not I should study Japanese by myself.
自分自身で日本語の勉強をすべきかどうか(を）考えています。 or 
 自分自身で日本語を勉強すべきかどうか考えています。

..., oh, Okay,  自分で日本語を勉強するかどうかを検討しています... Kaito-san, it seems like we are editing messages simultaneusly realtime... 検討しています is all right. It sounds more formal though.  "中国にもっと投資すべきかどうか検討しています。 (We are considering whether or not to invest in China) " may be a context where 検討しています works better.  I would still think that 考えています should be enough to state something personal such as studing Japanese by oneself.  Also, the ～かどうか検討する structure has a nuance of considering some matter logically based on a lot of information you are gathering or you have gathered.  The ～かどうか考える sturucture sounds more like considering or wondering something.


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## kaito

Ah great, thanks for clearing that up.

The english sentence just states that hes thinking about studying Japanese.
It does not imply a reason like "should" would do, nor is it like he's considering whether he "would" do something like that at all.
If it's easier to understand you can view it as "I'm considering studying Japanese by myself.".

At any rate, those english sentences you wrote would sound better if you put the "or not" at the end.


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## akimura

Thanks, kaito-san.  I thought I would add 考える vs 検討する.  日本語を勉強をするかどうかを考える should be sufficient, but for the following example, we would use both verbs to indicate different things:

私は車を買うかどうかを考えています。　(but )
I am considering/thinking/wondering whether or not to buy a car.

私は車を買おうかどうかを考えています。 　(and )
  I am considering/thinking/wondering whether I would buy a car or not.

考えています indicates the agent's wondering.

私は車を買うかどうか（を）検討しています。
I am considering whether or not to buy a car.

私は車を買おうかどうか（を）検討しています。
I am considering whether I would buy a car or not.

検討しています indicates the agent's structured thinking from operetional, functional, economical, financial and other aspects.


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## Flaminius

indivisibility said:


> Err I intended to convey the sense of considering "studying Japanese by myself" (as an option) rather than by any other means.


I'd translate "by oneself" in your sentence into _hitoride_. (Sorry, only Latin1 characters on this PC.)  _Jibun-de_, to my mind, is somewhat extraneous here, although it genuinely means "by oneself" in other sentences:
Watashi-wa Nihongo-o hitori-de/jibun-hidori-de/?jibun-de benkyoo shiyoo-ka doo-ka kangaete imasu.

Contrasted to _hitori-de_, _jibun-hitori-de_ has an emphasis on that the study is done by the speeker alone.  "All by oneself" springs to my mind as an English equivalent.


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## akimura

Flaminius said:


> I'd translate "by oneself" in your sentence into _hitoride_. (Sorry, only Latin1 characters on this PC.)  _Jibun-de_, to my mind, is somewhat extraneous here, although it genuinely means "by oneself" in other sentences:
> Watashi-wa Nihongo-o hitori-de/jibun-hidori-de/?jibun-de benkyoo shiyoo-ka doo-ka kangaete imasu.
> 
> Contrasted to _hitori-de_, _jibun-hitori-de_ has an emphasis on that the study is done by the speeker alone.  "All by oneself" springs to my mind as an English equivalent.



Oxford Advanced Learner's English Distionary 7th edition defines "(all) by oneself" as:
1. alone; without anyone else
2. without help

When I first read the original English sentence, I thought it meant "I'm considering whether or not to study Japanese without help."  In this case, I would rate 独りで as my second choice.  I would rate 自分（自身）で as my first choice as in 自分（自身)で日本語を勉強しようかかどうか考えています。"独学で日本語を勉強しようかどうか考えています。" clearly states self-paced, self-motivated learning.

If the original sentence meant "I'm considering whether or not to study Japanese alone," I woud say, 独りで日本語を勉強しようかどうか考えています。(without learning fellows around.)


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## notnotchris

Another word to consider would be 迷っています (Mayotte-imasu) instead of 考えています　or 検討しています. 迷っています is often used when racking one's brains


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## Aoyama

What about using 独学　?
日本語を独学しようかどうか考えています...


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