Help with sentence 私が外国を歩くようになったのは・・・


This clause is from a book that I'm reading called "日本人が知らない世界の歩き方". It's the
first clause of the first sentence in the book and ~~coincidentally~~ the
first one that I'm having trouble with. In particular, there are two things
that I don't understand:

  1. What does the を before 歩く mean? How is it possible for an intransitive verb to have an を particle? If this usage of the particle を is different than its usage as a direct object, can you please explain this alternate usage in depth?

  2. What does it mean for のは to be preceded by a verb in the past tense? I understand that when の follows a present tense verb, it forms an infinitive or gerund (i.e. 歩くの = to run or running), but I don't understand what this means when it is applied to a verb in the past tense.

*edit: I just learned from the particle-wo tag that the particle can sometimes mean the course of a motion verb. So 外国を歩く means "walk around a foreign country" or "traverse a foreign country"? What English preposition is a good approximation for this particle? And is 歩く meant to literally mean "to walk", or is it a more general type of motion like "to traverse"?




  1. Xを歩く has the meaning of walking _along_ X. See [this](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/6874/1628) and [this related question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/6869/1628).

  2. のは has exactly the same meaning as when used with a present tense verb. の nominalizes whatever verb precedes it, and は makes this nominalized verb the topic of the sentence...

As it stands the sentence is incomplete, so the only way is to translate it
freely. I would say something like

> (About) How I started to walk on foreign territories...

but it really depends on the text. A freer translation might fit even better.




  1. Xを歩く has the meaning of walking _along_ X. See [this](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/6874/1628) and [this related question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/6869/1628).

  2. のは has exactly the same meaning as when used with a present tense verb. の nominalizes whatever verb precedes it, and は makes this nominalized verb the topic of the sentence...

As it stands the sentence is incomplete, so the only way is to translate it
freely. I would say something like

> (About) How I started to walk on foreign territories...

but it really depends on the text. A freer translation might fit even better.

