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The sentence in question:

私は日本からあそびに来た友達にロンドンをあんないしてあげた。

My translation - I guided my friend who is coming from Japan around London.

I know that あそぶ can be used to mean 'hang out with', and that’s what I'm
guessing it means here, but I'm struggling to translate it into English and
have it sound right with the rest of the sentence. You wouldn't say for
instance "I guided my friend, whom I hang out with, who is coming from Japan
around London" - It just sounds odd.

Could it be translated as "A friend whom I hang out with is coming from Japan
and I guided him/her around London"?
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2014-01-12T11:36:29.913
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2019-03-18T13:32:45.933
4463
question
grammar translation verbs word-order
Checking the translation of あそぶ in this sentence
遊びに来る just means 'come to visit' or 'come to see someone'. It's a common
phrase. Don't be too focused on 遊ぶ, it doesn't really mean 'play' or 'hang
out' per se. I would translate it as: "I showed my friend, who came to visit
from Japan, around London." or some variation of that.
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2014-01-12T12:48:34.640
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2014-01-12T12:48:34.640
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answer
I think here あそびに means something like "for fun" or "for leisure". In other
words, they came on a pleasure trip, not for business or studying.

What may be confusing is that it's natural to express this in Japanese
directly when you'd express it only indirectly in English. Phrases like "came
to visit" or "went to see" generally _imply_ that it's for pleasure and not
for business. You don't need to say "My friend came to visit me **for
pleasure** " because it's implied by the phrase "came to visit".

As a result, the most natural translation here doesn't include words like "for
pleasure":

> 私は [ 日本から **あそびに来た** 友達 ] にロンドンをあんないしてあげた。
>
> [ my friend who **came to visit** from Japan ]

But it's natural to express it explicitly in Japanese with 遊びに. Phrases like
遊びに行く and 遊びに来る are very common.
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2014-01-12T14:17:18.550
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2014-01-12T14:17:18.550
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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answer
As mentioned above, the あそびに来た clarifies that the friend is not here on
business. So I'd go for "on holiday" / "visiting on holiday":

"I showed my friend, (visiting) on holiday from Japan, around London."
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-18T13:32:45.933
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2019-03-18T13:32:45.933
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answer