Is my interpretation of the grammar in 「気にしてられないと思えるようになる。」 correct?


> 人の目なんて。 気にしてられないと思えるようになる。
>
> You can't concern yourself with what other people think.

I saw this on a TV show where the hosts were talking about coming out in
public if you are gay. They had both come out of the closet and were saying
what a positive thing this is to do. I'm pretty sure I translated it
accurately. However, I have some questions on the intricacies of the grammar.

So

> 気にしてられない

would mean: "can't concern" "can't be concerned", and

> と思えるようになる。

means: "come to think that/ come to terms with"

so put together it literally means:

> be able to come to the point where you aren't concerned with what other
> people think.

Is this right?

To further clarify, here is a link to the original clip. The part I quoted is
from 3:00-3:20

The speaker actually says something extra between と and 思える but I can't make
it out. If anyone would care to tell me, I'd appreciate it.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYNU1LEXWhM&feature=related](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYNU1LEXWhM&feature=related)




That is one sentence, and られない here is a colloquial contraction of いられない.
Therefore, the sentence before the contraction is:

> 人の目なんて気にしていられないと思えるようになる。

Let’s consider the first half and the last half separately.

> 人の目なんて気にしていられない。 I can no longer care what people think of me.

As you correctly interpreted, 人の目を気にする means “to care what people think of
(the subject).”

なんて signifies that the speaker considers the thing or the person preceding it
as unimportant. In the English translation above, I did not include any words
which directly correspond to なんて, but I hope that the nuance is clear. If I
have to include this part explicitly, I would go with “I can no longer care
about nonsense like what people think of me.”

The phrase ～ていられない means “cannot ～ any longer.”

> ～と思えるようになる。 I reach the point where I can think that ～.

This is as Axioplase explained. 思える has a few usages, but I think that in this
case, it is clear from the other parts of the sentence that 思える is simply the
potential form (可能動詞) of 思う, meaning “can think.”

So the whole sentence means…

> 人の目なんて気にしていられないと思えるようになる。 I reach the point where I can think that I can no
> longer care what people think of me.

Ok, I admit that this translation is incomprehensible. A more natural
translation may be:

> I come to succeed in convincing myself that I can no longer care what people
> think of me.




That is one sentence, and られない here is a colloquial contraction of いられない.
Therefore, the sentence before the contraction is:

> 人の目なんて気にしていられないと思えるようになる。

Let’s consider the first half and the last half separately.

> 人の目なんて気にしていられない。 I can no longer care what people think of me.

As you correctly interpreted, 人の目を気にする means “to care what people think of
(the subject).”

なんて signifies that the speaker considers the thing or the person preceding it
as unimportant. In the English translation above, I did not include any words
which directly correspond to なんて, but I hope that the nuance is clear. If I
have to include this part explicitly, I would go with “I can no longer care
about nonsense like what people think of me.”

The phrase ～ていられない means “cannot ～ any longer.”

> ～と思えるようになる。 I reach the point where I can think that ～.

This is as Axioplase explained. 思える has a few usages, but I think that in this
case, it is clear from the other parts of the sentence that 思える is simply the
potential form (可能動詞) of 思う, meaning “can think.”

So the whole sentence means…

> 人の目なんて気にしていられないと思えるようになる。 I reach the point where I can think that I can no
> longer care what people think of me.

Ok, I admit that this translation is incomprehensible. A more natural
translation may be:

> I come to succeed in convincing myself that I can no longer care what people
> think of me.

