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I recently came across the following sentence:

> 他人が悪い事をしているからといって自分もそうしてよい **という** ことにはならない。

I understand the sentence. It means that if other people do bad things and you
also do bad things, it doesn't become a good thing (i.e. two wrongs don't make
a right.)

However, I don't understand what という means, and what purpose it serves in the
sentence.

I know that という can be used to refer to the name of something.

For example: これはというスマトフォン。（This is called a smartphone.)

What does it mean in the first sentence I gave?
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2015-09-21T07:36:53.607
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2015-09-21T14:13:20.683
2015-09-21T07:47:05.733
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meaning
Can you help me to understand how という is used?
There are [many ways](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/je2/52678/m0u/) 「という」
works, but in this type of sentence, I think you can voice it as the word
`that`.

Although you understand the meaning of the sentence correctly, your literal
translation leads me to suspect you are parsing it incorrectly. (I'm sorry if
that's not the case.)

## X からといって Y ということにはならない

This is a frequently used construct in the form 「X からといって Y ということにはならない」.
Remember that `ことになる` here can be voiced as `make it fact`. So `ことにならない` is
`doesn't make it fact`. And notice that the `といって` is also a form of `という`.

> X ←[ から(because) ][ といって(that) ] Y←[ という(that) ][ ことにはならない(doesn't make it
> fact) ]

Reorder the words, and you get “Because that X, doesn't make it fact that Y”.
(= Just because X is true, doesn't mean that Y is true)

Now, take the translations of 「他人が悪い事をしている (Other people are doing bad
things)」「自分もそうしてよい (It is fine for one to do so also)」, and insert them in as
the X and Y. This procedure will work for other sentences in this format (e.g.
「 **自分ができない** からといって、 **あきらめていい** ということにはならない」「 **値段{ねだん}が高い** からといって、
**おいしい** ということにはならない」).

## Similar uses of という

Maybe visualize it as a pointer:

  * 王子が結婚した という(→) ニュース (news ← that is "the prince married")
  * 彼が生きている という(→) うわさ (rumor ← that is "he is alive")
  * コーヒーが飲みたい という(→) 気持ち (feeling ← that is "wanting to drink coffee")
  * iPhone 6 という(→) スマートフォン (smartphone ← that is "iPhone 6")
  * 女性が多い という(→) 情報 (information ← that is "there are many women")

* * *

Using this pointer image, maybe you can also visualize 「これは X という (This is
called X)」 reordered, as:

> X という(→) これ (this ← that is "X")

Hope that helps in some way.
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