ゆっくり食事する / 消えつつある風景 / とした

Hi,


1. その方針が示すように、ゆっくり食事することが目的で はなく、ゆっくり食事を取ることで、普段何気なく口に している食べ物に目を向け、その食べ物を通して、自分 たちの住む地域、国の食文化を見直していこうというこ とだ。

a) Is there any intended contrast in meaning between ゆっくり食事する and ゆっくり食事を取る?

b) In ゆっくり食事を取ることで, does で mean that all the things subsequently mentioned happen as a consequence of ゆっくり食事を取る? Is it the copula で?

c) In what sense is 通して used?

d) Is いこう = 行こう in the sense of ongoing activity?


2. Next sentence:

そこには、やはり消えつつある食卓を囲んだ一家団らん の風景も見えてきそうだ。

a) I first read this as "the vanishing scenes of happy families around the dinner table seem to continue to be seen", but that doesn't really make sense (how can something continue to be seen if it is vanishing?). Could it instead be saying that it's apparent/clear that such scenes are disappearing?

b) Also, is 見えてきそうだ from 見えてくる (activity continuing from the past through to the present) + そう (in the sense of "seems")?


3. おじは去年教職を退いたが、それでも何とか大学での地 位にしがみつこうとした。

Translation given: "My uncle retired from teaching last year, but he still managed to hang onto a position at the university."

I translated this instead as "tried to hang on". Can volitional + とした mean "managed to"? If so, how do we know when it means "managed to" (i.e. tried and was successful) and when it means "tried to" (with no guarantee that the attempt would be successful)? It seems to me that there would be many ambiguous cases...

1) a)
No. They are the same.

b)
"by" in English

c)
through

d)
Yes.

2)
見えてきそう ＝ 見えるようになりそう
would become to be able to see

3)
Yeah, I, too, think it should be "tried to". If he managed to hang on, I would use 何とかしがみついた instead.

Thank you...

1b) Do the following separately and distinctly exist?

X で Y (where で is -て form of copula)
X で Y (where で is a particle meaning 'by' or 'as a consequence of')

And can で in the former case also have the meaning 'by' or 'as a consequence of'? I feel confused about how to tell these cases apart.

I am guessing that ゆっくり食事を取ることで has to be the latter case, since ゆっくり食事を取ることだ would appear not to fit in that context. Is this right?

2) Is this きそう from 来る + そう again?

Is the sentence as a whole referring to the disappearance of 食卓を囲んだ一家団らん becoming apparent?

1) b)
As for the example sentence, ゆっくり食事を取って is used for continuous usage, thus, the nominalizer こと is the key.
The etymology of the particle で and the -te form of だ are the same. Or rather, some usages of で are treated as a conjugation of the copula. So, your confusion is understandable.

2)
Yes, that's 来そう.

The meaning depends on the context, i.e., what そこ refers to. It also can mean "we can retrieve those scenes (through slow food)".

2) I think my difficulty with this sentence may be due to a misunderstanding/misreading of そこには. Sentence (2) follows sentence (1), i.e. the passage reads:

その方針が示すように、ゆっくり食事することが目的で はなく、ゆっくり食事を取ることで、普段何気なく口に している食べ物に目を向け、その食べ物を通して、自分 たちの住む地域、国の食文化を見直していこうというこ とだ。そこには、やはり消えつつある食卓を囲んだ一家団らん の風景も見えてきそうだ。

Does そこには refer to the situation ゆっくり食事を取ること? Is it saying that by eating meals slowly we can recover/preserve the 食卓を囲んだ一家団らん の風景?

Yes, I think so.

Thanks...

Toritoribe said:

The etymology of the particle で and the -te form of だ are the same. Or rather, some usages of で are treated as a conjugation of the copula.

Click to expand...

So in the original sentence, I am thinking that で in ゆっくり食事を取ることで would NOT be treated as a conjugation of the copula. Is that correct?

Exactly. It's a particle.