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What I find fascinating is that Japanese is very specific about many things like situation, context, whom I'm talking to, and so on. For all these nuances, it uses distinct patterns or grammar. This is not observed to the same degree in English or German.
Just look at the grammar around "but." It doesn’t distinguish whether you are speaking formally or casually, and can generally be used to show contrast. The same applies to the German counterpart "aber."
Not so in Japanese:
- Casual: でも
- Formal: しかし
- Context of an unexpected or surprising outcome: ところが
In German, it’s straightforward; we mostly stick to "aber." There are some alternatives, though. For example, in formal or written contexts, "jedoch" is often used:
- "Er hat viel gemacht, um das Projekt zu retten. Aber zum Schluss ist es gescheitert."
(He did a lot to save the project. But in the end, it failed.)
- In a more formal way:
"Viel wurde getan, um das Projekt noch zu retten. Jedoch ist es letztendlich gescheitert."
(A lot was done to save the project. However, it ultimately failed.)
Even in more formal contexts, we can still use "aber" instead of "jedoch."
In a surprising case, where context matters, Japanese uses "ところが"—for example, 「雨が降ると言われた、ところが晴れた。」
(They said it would rain, but it turned out to be sunny.)
In this surprising context, we can still use "aber" or "but" in both German and English.
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