Are the words in Japanese quotes 「」 always literally what is being said?


When 「」 is used to quote, are the words contained always literally what they
say, or are they paraphrasing? For example, in a sentence such as
「助けて」と叫びながら走っていた人が多かった, does it exclude people from saying variations such as
「誰か助けて」 and imply that 「助けて」 is the only thing that they said, or are they
just giving the general idea of what was saying? Another example sentence I'm
having trouble with is 「これって何」と思いながらプレゼントを開封した. The time it takes to think a
phrase is short compared to the time it takes to open something, so is 「これって何」
the only thing they think or is it just given as a general idea of what is
being thought?




**_No, they are not._** The content inside 「 」 is often **_not_** the exact
same as what was actually said. There exist a few patterns when it is not.

> 1) **Summarized statement** :

When the author thinks that the actual statement is too long and/or it
contains unnecessary parts for the reader, the author may trim it a little
without changing the meaning or nuance of the original statement.

> 2) **Translated dialectal statement** :

When the original statement was made in a dialect and the author feels it
would be better to "translate" it to standard Japanese for easier
comprehension for the readers, the author would sometimes make the
alterations.

I would not include translating from another language in this category because
that is a totally different phenomenon.

> 3) **Emphasis** :

Native speakers quite often place words and phrases in 「 」 for the simple
purpose of emphasizing them or making them stand out "physically" to catch the
reader's attention (even if no one actually said those words).

Technically speaking, this use of 「 」 is rather questionable, but many people
do it including myself.

Finally, I did not mention placing titles in 「 」 because that is only "legal"
officially.




**_No, they are not._** The content inside 「 」 is often **_not_** the exact
same as what was actually said. There exist a few patterns when it is not.

> 1) **Summarized statement** :

When the author thinks that the actual statement is too long and/or it
contains unnecessary parts for the reader, the author may trim it a little
without changing the meaning or nuance of the original statement.

> 2) **Translated dialectal statement** :

When the original statement was made in a dialect and the author feels it
would be better to "translate" it to standard Japanese for easier
comprehension for the readers, the author would sometimes make the
alterations.

I would not include translating from another language in this category because
that is a totally different phenomenon.

> 3) **Emphasis** :

Native speakers quite often place words and phrases in 「 」 for the simple
purpose of emphasizing them or making them stand out "physically" to catch the
reader's attention (even if no one actually said those words).

Technically speaking, this use of 「 」 is rather questionable, but many people
do it including myself.

Finally, I did not mention placing titles in 「 」 because that is only "legal"
officially.

