What's the difference between そうかな and そうなんだ?


I've always thought that they both mean something like "I see" or "Is that
so?" and I was told that they have different meaning. Is that so?




There is a difference between the two and it is the kind of difference that
could easily be lost in translation.

You say 「そうなんだ」 when you basically have no doubt about what you have just
heard from the other person. You have learned something new and you are
chiming in with him.

「そうかな」 is different in that you have an amount of doubt about what you have
just heard. You may have a different opinion regarding the matter.

This is why using a translation like "Is that so?" in understanding the two
Japanese phrases in question might not help greatly because it could be used
in both situations, could it not?




There is a difference between the two and it is the kind of difference that
could easily be lost in translation.

You say 「そうなんだ」 when you basically have no doubt about what you have just
heard from the other person. You have learned something new and you are
chiming in with him.

「そうかな」 is different in that you have an amount of doubt about what you have
just heard. You may have a different opinion regarding the matter.

This is why using a translation like "Is that so?" in understanding the two
Japanese phrases in question might not help greatly because it could be used
in both situations, could it not?

