I think I understand the sentence fine... "As I am getting old, I don't get back to my home town as often as before." But I am not quite sure what と is doing here...

年を取ると、故郷から足が遠のく。

Thanks!

verb + to is an extremely common construct. It's similar to -tara and -ba forms in implying a conditional. Unlike -tara and -ba, it's almost always translated "when" and not "if", but it's in the same group.

Think 年を取ったら.

There seem to be quite a few readings for 故郷 with rikaichan, do you know which is most used?

I've personally only seen ふるさと used, so I'm guessing that... but I don't know.

My first reaction was to read it as こきょう, but I can't say for sure.

anyone else?

cloudstrife543 Wrote:There seem to be quite a few readings for 故郷 with rikaichan, do you know which is most used?

That's been one of my more irritating "trouble words" in my SRS deck, which worked out in my favor since from now on I'll never forget it as こきょう, which I assume is the more common reading. (at the very least, in the context of one's hometown)

But what's 故郷 have to do with the と particle, again?

Burritolingus Wrote:

cloudstrife543 Wrote:There seem to be quite a few readings for 故郷 with rikaichan, do you know which is most used?

That's been one of my more irritating "trouble words" in my SRS deck, which worked out in my favor since from now on I'll never forget it as こきょう, which I assume is the more common reading. (at the very least, in the context of one's hometown)

But what's 故郷 have to do with the と particle, again?

It doesn't, it has to do with 取る。　It's the conditional that goes with verbs like tobberoth said.

I think the word 実家　is actually a better substitute for 故郷 if you are talking about where you were raised. My japanese friend says it's much more natural sounding. Using 故郷 is similar to saying in english, I am going to return to my birthplace, which sounds a little ackward.

But perhaps 故郷 is correct for the context of that sentence. Maybe that sentence is kind of talking about a general fact; when aging, because it is a brithplace, i will visit it less often.

>verb + to is an extremely common construct. It's similar to -tara and -ba
>forms in implying a conditional. Unlike -tara and -ba, it's almost always
>translated "when" and not "if", but it's in the same group.

Conditional... Cause and effect... this makes sense.. Thanks!

It's best not to think of conditionals in terms of meaning "when" and "if".
Instead, think about the situations where you use it.

Many people say that "to" is use for "natural" things. But I prefer to use the word "automatic" to describe the "to" particle.

You use "to" when:

1)Something happens so often that it almost seems automatic (for ex. "when those two people are in the same room, there is always a fight")

2)Natural processes that occur automattically
(for ex. "When water reaches the boiling point it turns to vapor")

So in your sentence it's the first definition. As he gets older, it just becomes natural for him to not to return to his hometown as often(for whatever reason, maybe wife and kids, or just that his body is aging and he can't walk as far, etc.)

The onset of old age causes his repeated absence from home.
Maybe its just the whole lifestlye of being old.

chamcham hit the nail right on the head when it comes to と in the OP's sentence. I just want to point out the word has a lot more meanings. A decent J-J dictionary for native speakers would list several meanings in the entry of "verb+と." For example, と in 部屋にはいると窓を開けた。isn't the "automatic" usage, and I think this is one of the most difficult senses for English speakers to understand because no translation would carry the exact same nuance. 国境の長いトンネルを抜けるとそこは雪国であった。is an example of yet another sense. This is the first sentence of Yukiguni written by Nobel Prize winner Yasunari Kawabata, by the way.

As for 故郷, the commoner reading is こきょう, at least in contemporary Japanese. ふるさと is also written as 故郷, but 古里 is more popular for the word these days. 故里 is another ふるさと and means pretty much the same thing, though it's much less frequent.

I was wondering about its use for quotation. I *think* I get it but...wait, actually, I'm not sure. >_<
Is it being used in that way in this sentence (the first from Natsume Soseki's Kokoro)? (if not that, how is it working?)
私（わたくし）はその人を常に先生と呼んでいた
I always called him (that person) 'Sensei'.

Ampharos64 Wrote:I was wondering about its use for quotation. I *think* I get it but...wait, actually, I'm not sure. >_<
Is it being used in that way in this sentence (the first from Natsume Soseki's Kokoro)? (if not that, how is it working?)
私（わたくし）はその人を常に先生と呼んでいた
I always called him (that person) 'Sensei'.

Kokoro begins with the sentence you quoted, which means "I always called him Sensei." But I don't know if the と has something to do with quotation. Are you quoting something when you say, "Call me Ampharos"? I guess it's sort of quotation, but I also think it's almost the same as "You can call me whatever you want," which apparently does not quoting anything.

When you use 呼ぶ with the very name, you say と. So X in "Xと呼ぶ" is the name you use when you call a person. 先生 is regarded as kind of a nickname in your example in this sense. But when you use 呼ぶ with an abstract noun such as 名前 (name), あだ名 (nickname), 名字 (family name), 肩書き (title) etc., you use で.

For example, if you said 彼をあだ名と呼ぶ, then it'd mean you'd say "Hey, adana!" If you wanted to mean "I call him by his nickname," then it should be 彼をあだ名で呼ぶ. So "You can call me whatever you want." would be 何と呼んでも構いませんよ。, どんな名前で呼んでも結構ですよ。or something along those lines.

I see, that helps me get a better feel for how it works, thanks!

Translating make it seems like と has a different meaning for each sentence in witch it features. There's no way to simplify it. I second magamo. The only way to make it simpler is to accept it as it is.