ほど / 基準 / 稿の募集 / ケーキ

[eeky]

Hi,

1. その数値が大きいほど脂肪の量が多いことを示しています。

(その数値 refers to BMI index for measuring whether people are overweight or underweight.)

Is it saying that 脂肪の量が多い is true to the extent that その数値が大きい?


2. ９８年にＷＨＯ（世界保健機関）が発表した基準と、それを参考に日本人の体型および体質に合わせて作った日本の基準の二つがあります。

I am not very confident about parsing this.

a) Is it saying that the following two standards (基準) exist in Japan?:

i) ９８年にＷＨＯ（世界保健機関）が発表した基準
ii) 日本人の体型および体質

b) Does それを参考に mean that (ii) makes reference to (i)?

c) I don't really understand how に合わせて作った fits into the sentence as a whole.


3. This is given as an example of the use of ～は問わない:

（原稿の募集）
ジャンルは問いませんが、長さは２，０００字以内とします。

a) Does 原稿の募集 mean an invitation to submit manuscripts (e.g. for a competition or for publication)?

b) Is ～とします an instruction?


4. このケーキは雑誌でも取り上げられたことがあり、とても人気がある。５０個限定なので、店頭に並べられるとたちまち売切れてしまう。

To me this looks like "This cake has even been featured in magazines, and is very popular. Only fifty are available, so when they are put in a shop window/counter they sell out straight away."

Is this right? The second sentence, especially, seems a slightly weird thing to say about a cake. Couldn't someone make more cakes if they wanted to? Or is it some kind of secret recipe? Maybe I've misunderstood something....

 

[Toritoribe]

1)
その数値が大きければ大きいほど makes sense?

2)
i) is correct but the other standard is それ(= "i)") を参考に日本人の体型および体質に合わせて作った日本 の基準.

3) a) b)
Yes.

4)
店頭 refers to "the shop window/counter". The cake is made only in the shop/by the patissier. Probably because it requires amount of time and/or work to make the cake, or materials are special and hard to get, fifty is the limit a day.

 

[eeky]

Thanks Toritoribe,

1) Does it mean "the higher the number, the fatter someone is"? (That is what I originally thought, but I didn't express it in very idiomatic English as I was trying to unpick the literal structure, which may have been confusing.)

2) I am still unclear about それを参考に日本人の体型および体質に合わせて作った日本 の基準. My guess was that it is talking about a Japanese standard (日本 の基準) termed （日本人の）体型 or （日本人の）体質, and that this standard refers to the WHO one (それを参考に). However, I do not understand how に合わせて作った fits with this interpretation, and maybe I have other things wrong. Could you explain how the phrase as a whole works?

 

[Toritoribe]

Japanese standard made/settled to match Japanese people's style and constitution by reference to the WHO standard

 

[eeky]

Oh yes of course. It seems obvious when you know.

Is my understanding of (1) correct now?

 

[Toritoribe]

Yes, that's correct.

 

[Morphling]

2. ９８年にＷＨＯ（世界保健機関）が発表した基準と、それを参考に日本人の体型および体質に合わせて作った日本の基準の二つがあります。

長さは２，０００字以内とします。

とします means consider something to be something. Here, it literally says, consider the length (of the essay) to be within 2000 words. But if you translate it into English proper, it's the same as です in this instance.

The WHO one is tricky so let's break it down. The basic sentence is:

二つがあります。There are 2 of something. What is that something? The first one is:

９８年にＷＨＯ（世界保健機関）が発表した基準
The standard announced by WHO in 1998.

The second is:
それを参考に日本人の体型および体質に合わせて作った日本の基準。
Lets break this one down. First of all, the basic part if this sentence is 日本の基準。so it is a Japanese standard. The clause preceding describes how it is made and there are 2 parts.

それを参考に。それ refers to the WHO基準。the rest of the sentence is a shorthand means 'as a reference', それを参考にして would be the complete clause. I would translate it as 'based on' however. So this part means based on the WHO standard.

日本人の体型および体質に合わせて作った

Here, にあわせて is the causative form of 合う. It means to make match. So this translates as 'matching Japanese body shape and constitution.

NB: に合わせて is also a set phrase meaning to combine but I think it makes more sense that this is the causative form of 合う

Bang the whole sentence together and you get the following.

There are two standards, one of which was announce by WHO in 1998, the other is a Japanese standard based on the WHO standard matching the body shape and constitution of Japanese people.

Japanese is very hard to translate into English. Word order is almost complete backwards. Best to absorb the sentence directly.

その数値が大きいほど脂肪の量が多いことを示しています。

This is literally saying, the bigger the number, the more fat you have. Not fat as in physically fat, but it could be internal body fat.

 

[Toritoribe]

～とする is more close to ～と定める here. That's a requirement for a competition or something, so "an instruction" is a good interpretation in this case.


合わせて is not the -te form of the causative of 合う but the -te form of 合わせる.

食い違いのないように、他のものに一致させる。また、一致するように物事を行う。「音楽に―・せて歌う」「彼の予定に―・せる」「歩調を―・せる」「口裏を―・せてごまかす」

あわせる【合（わ）せる】の意味 - 国語辞書 - goo辞書

Indeed a shimoichidan verb 合わせる is changed from a simonidan verb 合わす(下二段動詞の下一段化), which was originated from the causative of 合う（/合ふ）, but 合わせる no longer have a nuance of causative, as in the examples in the dictionary I linked above. 合わさせる, i.e. the causative of 合わす is used for the precise causative usage.

 

[Morphling]

Thanks for the correction .