What is the difference between 残念ながら and 残念なことに


I hear both 残念ながら and 残念なことに when expressing that something was unfortunate
before the actual sentence, much like the English "Unfortunately, ...".

However, I'm not sure on where these two phrases differ. Is their usage the
same?




I believe the difference is:

In `残念ながら` the focus is on the speaker's feeling while they tell you the
information. It's like saying "I'm sorry to have to tell you, but..." The
speaker's feeling of disappointment exists _alongside_ the information.

In `残念なことに`, the focus is on the thing the speaker is telling you, and is a
cause of the disappointment. It's like saying "What's particularly
disappointing is..." The speaker's disappointment _comes from_ the
information.

> 残念ながら、あなたと別れる。 (It's sad, but I'm going to break up with you.)
>
> 残念なことに、結婚しようかなと思っていた。 (What's sad is, I thought we maybe could have
> married.)

These two examples are subtley different. In the in the first case, you are
being told that a breakup will happen, _despite_ the fact the speaker is sad
about it. In the second case, you are being given a fact which is _itself_ a
cause of disappointment.

Hope that helps.




I believe the difference is:

In `残念ながら` the focus is on the speaker's feeling while they tell you the
information. It's like saying "I'm sorry to have to tell you, but..." The
speaker's feeling of disappointment exists _alongside_ the information.

In `残念なことに`, the focus is on the thing the speaker is telling you, and is a
cause of the disappointment. It's like saying "What's particularly
disappointing is..." The speaker's disappointment _comes from_ the
information.

> 残念ながら、あなたと別れる。 (It's sad, but I'm going to break up with you.)
>
> 残念なことに、結婚しようかなと思っていた。 (What's sad is, I thought we maybe could have
> married.)

These two examples are subtley different. In the in the first case, you are
being told that a breakup will happen, _despite_ the fact the speaker is sad
about it. In the second case, you are being given a fact which is _itself_ a
cause of disappointment.

Hope that helps.

