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"Was convinced to..."

Glenn

一切皆苦
8 Jan 2004
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Is this an acceptable sentence?

日本語を勉強し始めたのは友達に日本語の授業を取ると 納得させられたのです。

The intended meaning is "I started studying Japanese when I was convinced by a friend to take a Japanese class."

I was having trouble trying to figure out how to mark everything in the part after のは. Please let me know where I strayed from grammaticality and naturalness.
:):)
 
Glenn said:
Is this an acceptable sentence?
日本語を勉強し始めたのは友達に日本語の授業を取ると納得させられたのです。
The intended meaning is "I started studying Japanese when I was convinced by a friend to take a Japanese class."
I was having trouble trying to figure out how to mark everything in the part after のは. Please let me know where I strayed from grammaticality and naturalness.
日本語を勉強し始めたのは友達に日本語の授業を取るように勧められたからです。

Without knowing for sure how far the first one is off the mark, I still think this follows a more natural structure.
 
I didn't want this to get lost, and I didn't want to post it again, so I decided to give it its own thread. I'd be grateful if anyone could add to Elizabeth's assessments.
 
Hey Glenn, do you mind if typed it in Roman letters?

"Tomodachi ni Nihongo no jugyou wo toru youni to, settoku sareta tokini, watashi wa Nihongo wo benkyou shihajime mashita."

or, you could omit the second one of 'Nihongo' to avoid the redundancy.
 
Elizabeth said:
日本語を勉強し始めたのは友達に日本語の授業を取るように勧められたからです。
I think you should put 理由は rather than のは... OH, and do you 受ける a 授業, or 取る it? ...and I like のです more than からです here.

Well, maybe no wa is better.. :geek:
 
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Gaijinian said:
I think you should put 理由は rather than のは... OH, and do you 受ける a 授業, or 取る it? ...and I like のです more than からです here.
Well, maybe no wa is better...
No wa is fine for explaining a reason cause for something that was stated prior. Here are some sample sentence from Basic Connections : Making Your Japanese Flow for anyone that needs more convincing. :)

Kinou konsaato ni ikenakatta no wa, shigoto de ishogashikatta kara desu.
(no wa replacing riyuu or wake)

Netsu ga deta no wa ame ni nurete kaze wo hiita kara deshou. (no wa replacing genin)
 
misa.j said:
Hey Glenn, do you mind if typed it in Roman letters?
"Tomodachi ni Nihongo no jugyou wo toru youni to, settoku sareta tokini, watashi wa Nihongo wo benkyou shihajime mashita."
or, you could omit the second one of 'Nihongo' to avoid the redundancy.
Yeah, I thought about making it "settoku" as well but went with instead
(for misa's benefit) "Nihongo wo benkyou shihajemeta no ha tomodachi ni nihongo wo juugyou wo toru you ni susumerareta kara desu."

At least the two options are out there for anyone else's situation they might apply in: was something "recommended by" or were you "persuaded to" and ended up being pushed into it. 😊
 
I'd just like to pipe in and say that I think Misa's translation is a superb translation of your original sentence taken at face value.

Your original translation as well as Elizabeth's change the focus from being a matter of "when" to a matter of "why".
 
I had thought about going with 説得する (actually it was the first verb I thought of), but then figured that maybe 納得させる would be closer to the original intent.

Thanks for the information on the focus, Mikawa. I'll have to look more at what my intent was in the first place before I decide what to do with the sentence, though. 😌

By the way, where would my original version be on a 1-10 scale of naturalness, with 10 being native-like?

I really appreciate all of the help I've gotten so far. Thanks Elizabeth, misa.j, Gaijinian, and Mikawa Ossan! 🙂
 
I agree with Mikawa-san. Elizabeth's sentence is nice and polite and tells the reason. Misa-san's is also nice and tells when.

Just in case you want minimum correction of your sentence and meaning "when":

日本語を勉強し始めたのは、友達に日本語の授業を取れ・取るべきだ説得されてからです。

In case of why:
日本語を勉強し始めたのは、友達に日本語の授業を取れ・取るべきだ説得されたからです。

Just for your reference!
 
epigene said:
I agree with Mikawa-san. Elizabeth's sentence is nice and polite and tells the reason. Misa-san's is also nice and tells when.

Just in case you want minimum correction of your sentence and meaning "when":

日本語を勉強し始めたのは、友達に日本語の授業を取れ・取るべきだと説得されてからです。

In case of why:
日本語を勉強し始めたのは、友達に日本語の授業を取れ・取るべきだと説得されたからです。

Just for your reference!

That makes me wonder just how far off the mark I was, heheh. 😅

どうもありがとうございました、epigeneさん!
 
Mikawa Ossan said:
I'm no native speaker, but I'd give you a 7 as a "gut instinct". (直感・・・・・笑)

Well... 7 isn't too bad. 😄
 
With all the enthusiasm and hard work you apparently devote to learning the language, I'm pretty sure your fluence will rise dramatically in the first few months in Japan. Have fun at Doshisha (a prestigious university currently best known as the alma mater of Razer Ramon Hard Gay)!! 😆
 
Thank you! 🙂

(I have to see who this Razer Ramon Hard Gay is, but he (?) sounds like a wrestler)
 
Well at least I can take some solace in the fact that there were two Sid Viciouses, right? :D😌😊
 
Wow. I had no idea he used to be a wrestler.

Hard Gay (or HG for short) is just one more reason NOT to watch TV in my opinion! hahaha
 
Mikawa Ossan said:
Wow. I had no idea he used to be a wrestler.
Hard Gay (or HG for short) is just one more reason NOT to watch TV in my opinion! hahaha
Hey, Mikawa-san, I'm a fan! 😊

Of all the many dumb "manzai" people on TV, you can tell HG is intelligent and eloquent. I'm sure he's going to move on to better things--either in show biz or elsewhere and succeed!
 
Glenn said:
Is this an acceptable sentence?
日本語を勉強し始めたのは友達に日本語の授業を取ると納得させられたのです。
The intended meaning is "I started studying Japanese when I was convinced by a friend to take a Japanese class."
I was having trouble trying to figure out how to mark everything in the part after のは. Please let me know where I strayed from grammaticality and naturalness. 🙇:)


Hi Glenn San

I think that what others have said and what you have up there are pretty good translations of the English. The grammar are accurate, but sometimes in situations in which you want to say something about "what got you started in doing something" or "when you started to do something" etc., the word "kikkake" is used often.It should be a handy word to use

の検索結果 - goo国語辞書
 
Thanks for the tip, nhk9. That's one of those that's in my passive vocabulary, but not my active one. 😊
 
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