Japanese Language Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for students, teachers, and linguists wanting to discuss the finer points of the Japanese language. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
This is an excerpt from a song I'm trying to translate:
自分とは何でどこへ向かうべきか
自分 - oneself,
何でどこ - why, where,
向かう - head (verb),
べき - suffix meaning "should"
My doubts are what とは means and what is the role of か in the sentence? I can't give the whole sentence a general meaning. Can you help me, please?
Thank you very much
Unfortunately, 「[何]{なん}で」 does not mean "why" here. Thinking that it does would make one go crazy over this line.
「[自分]{じぶん}とは[何]{なん}でどこへ[向]{む}かうべきか」＝
「自分とは何で、どこへ向かうべきか」＝
「自分とは何であり、（そして）どこへ向かうべきか」 （あり＝あって）
「何」 means "what". "Who" might fit better in the context, though.
「とは」 is an emphatic topic marker. 「か」 is a question marker. Why am even I explaining these when they should be in the dictionary?
"Who/What am I and where should I be headed?"
