A quickie

[Dimension]

I'm reading through Genki volume 1, and I stumbled upon this question.

あなたの学校に何がありますか。

I just don't understand what is asked for.

EDIT: Oops, wrong subforum, but I hope it won't be too much of a problem

[richvh]

"What is in/at your school?"

[Dimension]

Hmm, I was thinking something like that but I just don't see what they're expecting me to answer in this practice drill with my current knowledge of japanese. I mean, if they'd written "imasuka" I could have answered with "gakusee ga imasu" but what are they expecting me to...

Oh wait Could it just be as simple as answering it with something like "tsukue ga arimasu" or just any random thing? Ha ha, I think I just got confused for nothing, started thinking there was some specific thing they were asking about. That tells me you shouldn't stay up studying too late

[Yudan Taiteki]

Your confusion is actually fairly warranted. It sounds to me like that question is not intended to be a question that someone would actually ask in real life, but just something to let you practice vocabulary or the Xがあります construction or something like that. (Of course they could have done both...)

[Mike Cash]

It's a perfectly fine sentence; it is just odd without a context. It would be fine, for example, if the person asking the question had been discussing the various student clubs/activities at his own school and then wished to ask what the other person's school has.

Part of the problem is that Japanese often uses the "what is there" phrasing where English speakers would use "what do you have" phrasing. And in the early stages of study when one tends to be literal-minded to a fault regarding translations that can lead to confusion. Again, lack of context exacerbates the problem.

[Yudan Taiteki]

Although in that case I would expect just Xさんの学校は？

[sushi4ever]

Although in that case I would expect just Xさんの学校は？

In a beginner's textbook?

[Yudan Taiteki]

Although in that case I would expect just Xさんの学校は？

In a beginner's textbook?

Of course. The Xは? question is used very frequently and as long as the student has learned は it's not very advanced. JSL introduces it in lesson 4, as soon as は is introduced. You can get a lot more use out of a general nature phrase like that than a more specific one.

[sushi4ever]

Although in that case I would expect just Xさんの学校は？

In a beginner's textbook?

Of course. The Xは? question is used very frequently and as long as the student has learned は it's not very advanced. JSL introduces it in lesson 4, as soon as は is introduced. You can get a lot more use out of a general nature phrase like that than a more specific one.

Ah, I get it.

My only doubt was based on that it appears rather colloquial to me, but little do I know since I never got past the beginner phase (yet) ^^

[Yudan Taiteki]

My only doubt was based on that it appears rather colloquial to me

No problem learning colloquial language; that's what you would be using most of the time when you're talking to Japanese people.

[sushi4ever]

My only doubt was based on that it appears rather colloquial to me

No problem learning colloquial language; that's what you would be using most of the time when you're talking to Japanese people.

I know ^^
It's just that you rarely see it in textbooks (at least I didn't and I had a look at quite a few).