とは / 出られる / 頼まれたり / って / 変な

Hiya,


1. あなたにとって理想の住環境とはどんな環境ですか。

My translation: "What is your ideal living environment?"

I am somewhat familiar with this use of とは, but what actual change in meaning/nuance would occur if と was deleted?


2. 出られるレースは全部出場し、無駄な出費はできるだけ抑えました。

My translation: "I took part in all the races I could, and cut down on unnecessary expenses as much as possible."

Is this correct? Does 出られるレース literally mean "races that I was able to participate in"?


3. このユニットでは、足立さんが会社で上司にお願いしたり、先生から家庭教師を頼まれたりします。

I understand the first part OK, but I can't make sense of who is doing what to whom in 先生から家庭教師を頼まれたりします. I think this is one of the "passive verb with object" patterns that I asked about recently, but I still can't figure it out.


4. Person A has asked person B for a favour:

B: ダメだって～。他の人に頼んでよ～。悪いけど。
A: う～ん。わかった、ごめんね、変なこと頼んで。

My translation:

A: "It's impossible. You'll have to ask someone else. I'm sorry."
B: "Oh. I understand, I'm sorry I asked you (such) an odd thing."

a) Is this OK? What would be the most appropriate translation of 変な here?

b) I recognise ダメだ, but what is って adding in this case?


5. ・・・友達から電話があったらメッセージを聞いおいてもらう

Presumably this is a typo for 聞きおいてもらう?

1)
The meaning is almost the same in that case. See the examples below. とは is asking the definition, whereas は is for the contents of 理想.(Although the first sentence can be used as the same meaning to the second one depending on the context.)

理想とは何ですか。
理想は何ですか。

2)
Yes.

3)
Adachi gets asked to be a home teacher from a teacher.

4) a)
How about "strange" or "unusual"?

b)
It's the same to よ.

5)
聞いておいてもらう

Thank you! Actually, that was the meaning I arrived at for (3), but I thought it was wrong!

On another subject, I hope you will not think me rude if I point out a small slip in English that you sometimes make. One thing is the same as another, not the same to another. So, in 4b you would say "It's the same as よ". I feel a bit impertinent mentioning this, since your English is so good, and infinitely better than my Japanese will ever be. But I thought perhaps you might like to know.

Thank you for your pointing out. Yeah, I apparently have a tendency to use "as" quite frequently.