JJapanese

I get confused when reading long sentences

I still can’t get around to understanding these sentences by myself. I eventually gave up and used DeepTranslate instead, but can anyone suggest how to understand long sentences easier?

このため、患者などから使うことができるようにしてほしいという意見が出ていました。

For this reason, there was a request from patients and others to be able to use it.

そして、若い人たちなどが治療などではなくて大麻を使うことを防ぐため、別の法律を変えることも決まりました 。

Another law was also changed to prevent young people from using marijuana for medical treatment.

今まで大麻を持ったり売ったりすることを禁止していましたが、使うことも禁止しました。

The new law also bans the use of marijuana, whereas before it prohibited the possession or sale of marijuana.

4 comments

  1. Break it into chunks and diagram it out. Like how they teach in English classes. Figure out what the subject is, the particle, direct object, adjectives, etc

  2. Don’t think that second one is translated correctly. Plus, the Lower House just passed a bill allowing medical use, so that’s moving forward.

  3. Everytime you see a 格助詞 (が、を、に、へ、で、と、から、まで、より), draw a line.

    このため、患者など|から|使うこと|が|できるようにしてほしいという意見|が|出ていました。

    Look at what you drew, and then try to combine it. The most basic form is [XX 格助詞 YY].

    e.g. お金**が**好きです, バス**で**行く

    at this point you find out :

    このため、患者など|から|使うこと|が|できるようにしてほしいという ***[[[[[意見|が|出ていました。]]]]]*** –> **There were opinions**

    and

    このため、& [[[***[[患者など|から|使うこと|が|できるようにしてほしいという意見|が|出ていました。]]]]]*** **–> From patients and others, there is xxxxxxxx (Something that you are going to figure it out later)**

    At this point, you will have a basic concept in your mind about:

    1. For this reason
    2. From patients and others, there is xxxxx
    3. There were opinions

    Now it is time to figure out the rest. The rest depends on your current grammar knowledge, and you should be able to link the rest up.

    For example, 使うことができる : [JLPT N4 Grammar ことができる (koto ga dekiru)](https://jlptsensei.com/learn-japanese-grammar/%E3%81%93%E3%81%A8%E3%81%8C%E3%81%A7%E3%81%8D%E3%82%8B-koto-ga-dekiru-%E3%81%93%E3%81%A8%E3%81%8C%E3%81%A7%E3%81%8D%E3%81%BE%E3%81%99%E3%81%8B-meaning/)

    ようにして [JLPT N4 Grammar: ようにする (you ni suru)](https://jlptsensei.com/learn-japanese-grammar/%E3%82%88%E3%81%86%E3%81%AB%E3%81%99%E3%82%8B-you-ni-suru-%E3%82%88%E3%81%86%E3%81%AB%E3%81%97%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%82%8B-meaning/)

    してほしい　[JLPT N4 Grammar: てほしい (te hoshii)](https://jlptsensei.com/learn-japanese-grammar/%E3%81%A6%E6%AC%B2%E3%81%97%E3%81%84-%E3%81%A6%E3%81%BB%E3%81%97%E3%81%84-te-hoshii-meaning/)

    という [JLPT N4 Grammar: という (to iu)](https://jlptsensei.com/learn-japanese-grammar/%E3%81%A8%E3%81%84%E3%81%86-to-iu-meaning/)

  4. *Take it in chunks, find grammatically complete units and figure them out separately.*

    **このため、** 患者などから使うことができるようにしてほしいという意見が出ていました。

    **For this reason, …**

    *The introductory expression stands by itself.*

    **患者などから**

    **From patients and others**

    *This expression doesn’t work directly with使う, orして, orいう… it doesn’t have a verb to match to until出ていました.*

    **患者などから　…　出ていました**

    **came from patients and others**

    *We have somewhat incomplete thought here, but working back from our verb, we find the subject is right next to it.*

    **患者などから　…　意見が出ていました**

    **opinion came from patients and others.**

    *It helps here to noticeという here, a chunk of our sentence is describing the opinion and can be taken out as a separate clause. In fact, everything that has not yet been examined is describing the opinion.*

    **患者などから**（X）**という意見が出ていました**

    **The opinion “X” came from patients and others.**

    *The first part of “X” is a complete embedded sentence.*

    **使うことができる**ようにしてほしい

    It is possible to use

    ようにして

    *Then a grammatical phrase that modifies the previous part,*

    Make it possible to use

    *And then another grammatical phrase that modifies what precedes it,*

    てほしい

    Want (them to) make it possible to use

    *Then it’s just a matter of putting it together,*

    For this reason, … + The opinion “X” came from patients and others. + “X” = Want (someone to) make it possible to use

    For this reason, the opinion came from patients and other that (they / patients and others) want (someone) to make it possible to use (it).

    *This is a bit awkward, but for purposes of understanding should be sufficient. If you want to take it all the way for completeness or because you are translating for others, notice that “the opinion that they want X done” is more concise and natural as “they requested X”.*

    For this reason, patients and others requested that (someone) make it possible to use.

    *It’s not explicitly in there that the patients and others want to be ones who are able to use it, but it is very strongly implied by the structure and self-evident from the larger context. And for natural English, the request for a change doesn’t really need to be so explicit as “request that they make it so”. So we can again be more concise,*

    For this reason, patients and others requested that they be able to use it.

    *(Ugh. Reddit is broken. See self-reply to this comment. Also this is now really hard to read without the bold parts being in bold anymore.)*

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