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女性：田中君。テニス部に入ったのね。面白い？

男性：
a - うん、佐藤さんも入らない？
b - うん、佐藤さんも入ろうか。

I wanted to know why 'a' is correct and 'b' is incorrect. The woman is saying "so you entered a tennis club, is it interesting?" Then the guy answers "sure why don't you enter also with me", so that's why I thought 'b' would be correct, why is 'b' incorrect and 'a' correct?

Chocolate
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fynxgloire
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    入ろうか would include the speaker, i.e. 田中君. But he is always in the club, so that doesn’t make sense. 入らない？ asks the listener. – Milten Oct 13 '21 at 22:58
  • 入ろうか would be “let’s join” basically. – Milten Oct 13 '21 at 22:59
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    @Milten ～ようか can work as a suggestion that only involves the listener. I think the problem is not that it doesn't make sense but that it sounds unnecessarily strong. – naruto Oct 14 '21 at 00:29
  • @Milten As what naruto said, ~ようか can also just mean the speaker as in this example: ごみ、捨てに行くけど、ついでにこれも捨ててこようか。 うん、お願い。 – fynxgloire Oct 14 '21 at 17:03

1 Answers1

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In this case, the man is already in the tennis club, so 佐藤さん is the only person who may join the club. When よう works as a suggestion that only involves the second-person (i.e., "why don't you" rather than "why don't we"), it sounds strong and obligatory. It's perhaps like "You'd better join, too" or "(I know / Of course) you're gonna have to join, too". This type of ～ようか is used only if you have a good reason to have some control over the other person's thoughts and actions. 佐藤さんも入ろうか may even be taken as a harassment depending on the relationship of the two.

On the other hand, "入らない?" is a safe and casual suggestion (just asking what the woman thinks about it).

naruto
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  • From what I know, using ~ようか involves 一緒にする and 話す人がする. So actually it is wrong to say that since its the person speaking who would have to do the action, and since 田中君 is already in the club, then it makes no sense, correct? While using ~ない involves 一緒にする and 聞く人がする. So the listening person ie. 佐藤さん would be doing the action, asking her why doesn't she join. Is this correct? – fynxgloire Oct 14 '21 at 17:15
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    @fynxgloire It's not wrong at all to say 「うるさいよ、ちょっと静かにしようか ("You're noisy, keep it down!")」 even when the speaker is not noisy. This is a less common usage of よう you need to understand eventually. Still, this sounds not like a suggestion but like an obligatory request, and that's why it's inappropriate in your situation. – naruto Oct 14 '21 at 21:35