他にも meaning and translation


I have a sentence in my text book using the grammar 他にも which I understand to
be (besides or as well as). In the sentences to come the student seems like
they haven’t had their family over for a visit yet hence why they want to talk
to somebody about it. With that in mind 他にも can’t mean (besides you) which is
how I would read it. Please translate and explain! Feel free to use other
examples, Thank you.

> 留学生: 今年の夏に、家族が遊びに来るから、泊まる所を探しているんですが、誰に聞いたらいいですか。
>
> 先生: そうですね。家族が遊びに来たことがある留学生が **他にも** いると思うから、まずそういう人を探したらいいと思います。




Not sure this is worthy of an answer since it's more about English than
Japanese, but it was too long for a comment.

I see your point but I think you may be overthinking it. Languages aren't
always entirely logical. If you asked me who you should ask about places to
stay and I simply replied "There are students who've had their family over, so
...", wouldn't you find that an odd and quite disconnected statement? If I
said "there are other students who've had their family over, so...", as you
say, it isn't entirely logical, but it has a better flow to it and I think it
is a quite natural response.

Another way to think about it would be to add some emphasis to give "there are
other students who **have** had there family over". In this case the "other"
distinguishes two kinds of students: those that have and those that have not
had family over.

You should probably also note that although my translations have used "other
students", where "other" adjectively modifies "students", ほかにも is actually
adverbially modifying いる. The literal translation would be students who've had
their families over additionally exist. You could then ask "what do they exist
in addition to?" Answer: they exist in addition to you, who has not had your
family over.

