What about these particles


For full context, see the following document:
<https://www.docdroid.net/6ruXJ6r/img-20170802-0002-new.pdf>

This excerpt was taken from line 1-2:

> 15歳の子供たちを対象に32か国で行われた国際調査では、国によってかなりちがいがあることがわかった。

First, my attempt at translation: "In an international survey that was
performed in 32 countries, in which one has made 15 year old children the
target group, one has discovered that there was quite the difference depending
on the country.”

What confuses me the most is 対象に. This に seems to me like the に in 音を大きくにします,
where the subject changes the status of an object. The に expressing a decision
could also work here, like in ビールにしますか、ビールにしますか。 In any case, the する after に
isn't there in this case. So I don’t know for sure what function this に has.

What also makes me wonder is the では in 国際調査では. I’ve interpreted it as particle
で + particle は. In a more literal translation, this still works: "Concerning
in an international survey…., one has discovered….“ I just wonder why there is
で at all. At least in the translation, it seems redundant.

Ultimately, I’d like to know whether my translation is precise. I usually
hesitate making use of relative clauses, because one can easily scramble some
relations without noticing. But since the attribute for 国際調査 was so complex, I
didn’t see another way around it.




> What confuses me the most is 対象に

It's part of a very common `A + を + B + に` construction. Most of the time you
can use "using A as B" or "with A as/on/in B" to translate it. You can also
think して is omitted after 対象に. See: [Meaning and transitivity of
ゴミ袋を手に立ち上がる](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/20854/5010) and [Two を in a
single sentence - how to understand
it?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/16288/5010)

In this case, you can translate 15歳の子供たちを対象に very simply: "targeted at
15-year-old children".

> What also makes me wonder is the では in 国際調査では

This では is the plain old situation/location marker (で ≒ "in"), followed by the
plain old topic marker (は). で and は play totally different roles, and they are
not redundant. Don't worry too much about your "literal" translation.

Your translation attempt is okay, but feel free to use more natural wordings
such as "The survey _revealed_ that ..."




> What confuses me the most is 対象に

It's part of a very common `A + を + B + に` construction. Most of the time you
can use "using A as B" or "with A as/on/in B" to translate it. You can also
think して is omitted after 対象に. See: [Meaning and transitivity of
ゴミ袋を手に立ち上がる](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/20854/5010) and [Two を in a
single sentence - how to understand
it?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/16288/5010)

In this case, you can translate 15歳の子供たちを対象に very simply: "targeted at
15-year-old children".

> What also makes me wonder is the では in 国際調査では

This では is the plain old situation/location marker (で ≒ "in"), followed by the
plain old topic marker (は). で and は play totally different roles, and they are
not redundant. Don't worry too much about your "literal" translation.

Your translation attempt is okay, but feel free to use more natural wordings
such as "The survey _revealed_ that ..."

