考えることにした / でなかったら / 自分 / まんざらじゃない

[eeky]

Hi,


1. 僕はこれに勇気づけられた。すべてを良い方向に考えることにした。

I believe the first sentence means "I was cheered up by this". Though it is not terribly natural put this way in English, does the second sentence essentially mean "I decided to think of everything in a good way"?


2. 自分はこの大学でよかったのだ。この大学でなかったら、自分を見つめ直す機会なんてなかっただろう。

I am not confident of my understanding of this. I guess at "Things would be good at this university. Without this university I would not have a chance at self-improvement."

As well as other things that may be wrong:

a) What is the grammar of この大学でなかったら? I mean, I assume that it is この・大学・で・なかったら, and that なかったら is the ～たら form of ない, but I do not understand in what sense でなかったら is used. For example, is it the negative potential of この大学である? If so exactly what does この大学である mean without anything to connect with it like ～は～である?

b) The speaker seems to be talking about a university that he will attend in the future, so why the tense よかった? I think I have had similar situations before with modifiers; does the tense (past or present) of a modifying verb/adjective just not matter in some contexts?


3. In Ｘは、自分・・・, assuming Ｘ refers to a person, does 自分 always refer to X?


4. あの娘だってまんざらじゃないさ。

Translation given: "She isn't so against the idea."

a) Does って have a conditional flavour in this case?

b) What does まんざらじゃない literally mean? I do not see where the concept of "against" and "idea" come from. Are they to be assumed from the context?

 

[Mike Cash]

考えることにした / でなかったら / 自分 / まんざらじゃない

1. An absolute direct literal translation works best for 勇気づけられた

勇気 is "courage"
The phrase is in the passive voice

"I was encouraged"

2. That is all reflection....past tense. He's glad he went to that school and not some other, etc. The first で is not the location で, by the way. It is an incarnation of the copula.

でなかったら has just omitted the は. If it were じゃなかったら you'd recognize it instantly.

3. Sort of impossible to say from a fragment like that.

 

[Toritoribe]

4) a)
No. だって means too/also.

b)
Yes, that's from the context. The sentence can mean "She also likes you/me/him", or rather, まんざらでもない as this meaning is more common.

 

[eeky]

Thanks.

1. Could anyone help with the second sentence? Is my interpretation correct?

2a. Unfortunately I do not understand この大学でなかったら, even if recast as この大学じゃなかったら. I assumed originally that でなかったら was a form of the copula, but with the copula I am used to the basic pattern like ＡはＢだ, even if A is implied. In this case we seem to have a B with no A, apparently not even an implied one, and I don't understand what that means.

 

[Mike Cash]

考えることにした / でなかったら / 自分 / まんざらじゃない

The implied A is all the other colleges he didn't go to.

Your interpretation is correct, although it could be phrased in any number of ways.

 

[eeky]

Thanks. Unfortunately I still do not get it. If I may mix languages,

"all the other colleges I didn't go to はこの大学でなかったら..."

looks to me as if it would mean "If all the other colleges I didn't go to had not been this college", which makes no sense to me...

 

[Mike Cash]

考えることにした / でなかったら / 自分 / まんざらじゃない

"if it hadn't been this college....."

 

[Toritoribe]

（入学したのが）この大学でなかったら

 

[eeky]

Thanks, I get it now.