Consider, in attempting to translate:
Ah, you like sushi? Have you tried poke? Both have fish (usually raw) and rice. But sushi is Japanese, while poke is Hawaiian.
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Ha, vi ŝatas suŝion, ĉu? Ĉu pokeon vi iam provis?
La ambaŭAmbaŭ enhavas (kutime krudan) fiŝaĵon kun rizo. Sed? suŝio estas japana, dum? pokeo estas havaja.
It isn’t clear to me the best way to draw a distinction like this. Is this a case for kvankam? A rewording with kiel … tiel? Ankoraŭ? Leave out the fine meaning and just go with sed, … kaj? Something else?
Is my problem here trying to contrast the copulas (estas) where I should be contrasting the predicates, so something more like (Sed) suŝio estas japana, ?? pokeo, ?? havaja?
I note in English
- But while sushi is Japanese, poke is Hawaiian
- Yet sushi is Japanese while poke[, | is] Hawaiian
- But although sushi is Japanese, poke is Hawaiian
- But sushi is Japanese; poke, Hawaiian
- Sushi, however, is Japanese, and poke is Hawaiian
all seem nearly identical in connotation. But the Esperanto alternatives seem to draw sharper distinctions, which is why I’m having trouble—I feel like I almost need the equivalent of je for contrasts and comparisons.