によってｘについてｘにとってｘとして

Japanese
#1

I am trying to make sure I stop making mistakes with these guys but it just keeps happening. Can anyone confirm these are correct?

によって

  • Means “depending on”
  • アメリカに州「によって」ルールは全然違う。

について

  • Means “according to”
  • 天気予報「について」夜に雨が降ります。

にとって

  • Means “for”
  • 子供「にとって」公園で遊ぶことは大切です。

として

  • Means “as”
  • プログラマー「として」、コンピューターの使い方は簡単です。

Bunpro says によって means “according to” as well which confuses me even more…

Also in Tobira there is this phrase
「となりのととろ」はスタジオジブリ によって 作られたアニメ映画だ。

4 Likes
#2

For me everything looks correct. If I understand correctly, によって can also be used like in your example to show something was done by someone/resulted from someones actions, e.g. a movie produced by Studio Ghibli or a book written by someone etc

1 Like
#3

にとって and として are pretty straightforward. As for について, I would be more inclined to say it means “regarding”. によって is deffo the troublesome kid. “According to” is a pretty nice translation, but it doesn’t cover all the meanings. Here you can read more about this kind of よる and hopefully it helps (Fun Fact section): bunpro/によると.

3 Likes
#4

I think of について as “about”. For me, that’s a translation that works best most times.

Example:

もっと日本文化について知りたい = I want to know more about Japanese culture.

The rest looks good though :+1:.

3 Likes
#5

I agree with a lot of these, however I think your example on として is a little off. I think it still works, but that sentence might work better with にとって, as “for programmers, using a computer is simple” sounds more natural.

A good example of として might be:

私は大統領として、この事故に対して責任を取らなければなりません。

Although tbh, I also mix these up a lot as well so let me know if I made a mistake!

1 Like
#6

In this case this means literally as reported by a third party, like 天気予報によって雨が降る。

について Does not really have that meaning of reporting, more like concerning. I would study that one in more detail again.

1 Like
#7

Adding on to what @Sidgr said, I find that this usage of よる is more commonly used as ～によると. For a more detailed breakdown on the uses of this word, I’d highly recommend this reading: JLPT文法解説：によって　により　による　によっては　N3 | 日本語教師のN1et

Also, conceptualizing よる itself got easier for me when I realized I could use it in conversations to say “it depends,” like you can say 天気によります in response to “will you go to the festival?” to say “it depends on the weather,” or 人による → “it depends on the person.”

5 Likes