I read the post on here from 2011 about the difference between に and には, but I
came back still a little confused (especially with all the non-layman grammar
words like transitive/nominative/etc).

I have two examples and I think I know how to use には, but I'm wondering if
someone could double-check or expand on the subject.

> 日本語はアメリカ人には難しいと思います。
>
> I think Japanese is (more) difficult for Americans (as opposed to other
> nationalities).

So, in a way, I'm implying that I'm taking into consideration other
nationalities compared to Americans in terms of English being difficult,
putting emphasis that it is much harder for Americans compared to others.

> 日本語はアメリカ人に難しいと思います。
>
> I think Japanese is difficult for Americans.

This would be just saying that Japanese is hard for Americans, not comparing
it to any other country/nationality. So its implied I could also think
Japanese is equally as hard for, say, Russian people and that Americans don't
necessarily have a _harder_ time.

What do you all think? Would love some feedback to properly understand には
better.
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2015-06-04T23:23:27.410
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question
grammar particles syntax
Question about に and には in terms of emphasis
Hope this does not shock you too badly. If anything, it is at least an honest
opinion of a native speaker.

Regardless of one's intended meaning and/or nuance, it sounds much more
natural to say:

> 1.「日本語はアメリカ人 **には** 難しいと思います。」

than to say:

> 2.「日本語はアメリカ人 **に** 難しいと思います。 」

To be even more honest, my ears do not accept Sentence #2. Sure, I could
easily _**guess**_ what the speaker/author would have wanted to say but I also
know without even thinking that Sentence #2 is not something many native
speakers would say in a natural setting. **We would use 「には」**.

Besides 「には」, one could use 「にとっては」, but not just 「に」.

Moving on to the topic of "Americans vs. Others"...

Sentence #1, all by itself without further context, does **not** mean or imply
that people from other countries have an easier time learning Japanese than
Americans do. To mean that, it would need to be mentioned in the surrounding
sentences.

The easiest way to express that without even creating a whole new sentence
would be to say:

> 「日本語はアメリカ人には **特に** 難しいと思います。」 or
>
> 「日本語はアメリカ人にとっては **特に** 難しいと思います。」

「[特]{とく}に」 can be placed right in front of 「アメリカ人」 in either sentence.

Extra:

As an おまけ, here is an example of the "emphatic 「には」 vs. plain 「に」".

> 「スカイツリーは東京 **に** あります。大阪 **には** ありません。」

I do know that many J-learners would just use 「に」 in the second sentence, too.
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2015-06-05T06:56:07.880
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2015-06-05T06:56:07.880
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answer