Quoting an utterance (Genki help)


I'm on Chapter 9 in Genki I and there's a paragraph that says:

* * *

> Note that in Japanese, the tense of the original utterance is preserved when
> reported. If you report somebody's utterance in which present tense is used,
> you must also use the present tense inside the quote. So if your friend said
> 今、日本語を勉強しています, using the present tense the report is
>
> スーさんは日本語を勉強していると言っていました。  
>  Sue said that she **was** studying Japanese.

* * *

Isn't the translated text contradicting what it says?

Shouldn't it translate to

Sue said that she **is** studying Japanese. (As in, Sue, in the past at the
moment she was talking to me, had said she is currently studying Japanese).

What should I understand from this paragraph?




That's the difference Genki is trying to explain: in English, you would say
"Sue said she was studying Japanese", because she was studying it when she
said that sentence (as for now? Maybe she stopped), while in Japanese you have
to keep the original tense, so if Sue said 「勉強している」 you have to quote
「勉強している」.

I think the literal translation of the Japanese sentence would be "Sue said,
'I'm studying Japanese'" (as you could do in English, too), since the
quotative 「と」 does that, it quotes, but in English it's more usual to use
indirect quotation, so Genki is providing the translation people would usually
say in English.

