果たして vs やっぱり

Japanese
#1

Specifically for sentences expressing a result, like in the following

ゆきさんとともこさんは長ながい間あいだ、付き合つきあっていた。果はたして、彼かれらは結婚けっこんした。

In the lesson it also says the following “Coming from the base meaning of 果はたす ‘to come to fruition’, 果はたして can be thought of as similar to ‘in the end’. If using this translation to memorize 果はたして, it should also be noted that the nuance of what happens ‘in the end’ is almost always something that the speaker either expected or assumed would happen in the first place.”

This seems to be extremely similar to やっぱり in my mind, where you are expressing the result and doing so as something that one had expected one way or another from the start. I find it interesting that it’s not listed as a synonym either, which tells me maybe I am missing a key piece here.

How do you guys think of the terms and separate them in your head? Do you think in usage they can be thought of as the same or very similar? Any advice would be appreciated.

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#2

In this situation I think of them as interchangeable, but I’m not sure if it would always be that way. I’ll let others reply, so I’m simply subscribing for now.

By the way, I generally prefer the most literal translations whenever possible since they give you the closest meaning to what the Japanese is saying. In the case of 果たして I think of the suggested meaning of “In the end” given by the BunPro team.

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#3

In my experience, やっぱり expresses more excitement or a sense of something hidden being revealed. You might think of it as an exclamation mark or more emotional investment compared to 果たして, which points to a more logical conclusion.

In this example, やっぱり might include the nuance of “of course they got married!” I might translate the two options as follows:
果たして: Yuki and Tomoko were dating for a long time. So as expected, they got married. (No one is really surprised, this is an expected result).
やっぱり: Yuki and Tomoko were dating for a long time. So of course as we all thought, they’re getting married!

Another nuance is that やっぱり is sometimes used as an reply to something being revealed that the speaker is having confirmed. For example let’s say no one knew Yuki and Tomoko were even dating, and it’s just been revealed they’re married after years of secretly dating. Someone might reply with やっぱり！ (I knew it!) With the implication the speaker saw signs of a relationship between Yuki and Tomoko and are now having their suspicions confirmed.

I hope this helps and I’d love to hear thoughts from others.

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#4

やっぱり to me always seems to have locus within the speaker. The expectations that the speaker had formulated were proven true. The shorthand would be “Just as I thought/expected”. The result may be “generally known” but maybe the speaker doesn’t know this or it’s not “common enough”. And to @Munchakoopas point above, やっぱり feels more emotive because it’s focused on the speakers ego.

果たして on the other hand feels more passive, and has locus outside the speaker even if the speaker had a general idea it would turn out the way it did. The shorthand here would be “Sure enough”. The result is very commonly expected given the situation.

果たして結婚した — Sure enough/As expected, they got married
やっぱり結婚した — Just as I thought/As I expected, they got married

——————

Extra fun side note:

果たして probably makes the most sense in the example sentence because it is “very generally expected” that two people that have been dating for a while will get married. Or it might also be that the author wishes to relate the expected result in a more passive manner.

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#5

I like the way of describing it as “emotive” and “locus with the speaker”! I feel like that really helps to recognize the difference. Such a good way of pointing out the difference. I couldn’t quite put that into words!

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