I have this sentence:

> これはアヤメに話を聞く重大なルールだ。

I understand this as:

> this is a serious rule to follow to chat with Ayame. (Correct me if it's
> inaccurate)

話を聞く look to me like they're connected but i can't find anything about it
anywhere.

Context: A person speakers to an interviewer about their boss. Olivia, Ayame
is the boss of the person who says all this to an interviewer who wants to
interview her.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-14T17:42:37.173
55176
2017-12-15T09:11:22.357
2017-12-15T09:11:22.357
26963
question
words
話を聞く connected?
I think 'chat' is a little inappropriate.

The Japanese phrase ‘話を聞く’ refers to listening to someone's story (sometimes
problem), so it is more important than a chat. What theme is important depends
on one’s subjective thoughts.

For example,

> 「どうしたの？何か嫌なことでもあった？ **話聞くよ？** 」 the situation: A girl looked sad and her
> friend tried to console her with listening what happened to her.
>
> 「ちょっと **お話** があるのですが」  
>  the situation: Since he wanted to discuss the plan he had been in charge
> of, an office worker asked for his boss’s time.

* * *

> これはアヤメに話を聞く重大なルールだ。

Since I don’t know the situation I can't explain it perfectly. But my
expectation is that when the speaker ask Ayame some information, he or she has
to follow the rule, like giving her equivalent information.

I thought of アヤメ **に** 話を聞く as asking her something, but I don’t know whether
it is proper. If you give me the situation, I think I can tell you more
correctly. :)
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-15T03:30:42.157
55189
2017-12-15T05:29:52.993
2017-12-15T05:29:52.993
26923
26923
55176
answer