English Translation
Japan depends on Arab countries for oil.
“Japan ist abhängig für Öl von arabischen Ländern.” Placing “abhängig” after “ist” makes more sense to me?
This sentence is weird, because the use of “für” does not really work as a literal translation of the english “for”. It’s so weird that I first thought there’s a mistake in the sentence, and it’s saying “abhängig für” instead of “abhängig von”.
To put it more natural:
Japan ist von Öl aus arabischen Ländern abhängig. - Japan depends on oil from arabic countries.
Japan ist, wenn es um Öl geht (oder: was Öl angeht), von arabischen Ländern abhängig. - Japan depends on arabic countries when it comes to oil.
And I’m afraid your suggested word order makes it even weirder. You can use both word orders, but the “for oil” part - if it would work at all - should be separate:
Japan ist von arabischen Ländern abhängig.
Japan ist abhängig von arabischen Ländern.
Japan ist für Öl von arabischen Ländern abhängig.
Japan ist für Öl abhängig von arabischen Ländern.
And although you can say “ist abhängig von X”, “ist von X abhängig” sounds more natural to me.
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German has (as far as I know) no direct equivalent to the English structure: “to depend on someone for something”
I would therefore say that “für Öl” is wrong in all cases, be it the original sentence or your proposal.
The closest you can get to that in German is by translating “to depend on someone regarding something” (what @pitti42 said).
“Japan hängt bezüglich Öl von arabischen Ländern ab.”
Alternatives to “bezüglich Öl”:
- “in Bezug auf Öl”
- “hinsichtlich Öl”
- “was Öl angeht”
- “wenn es um Öl geht”
Or you twist the English sentence (like @pitti42 said) to “Japan depends on oil from arabic countries.” which slightly changes the meaning, or at least the emphasis. Consider: What if Norway offered some oil? Would Japan decline the offer because it absolutely needs to be from an Arabic country? Or does Japan not care from whom it gets the oil as long as it gets the oil on which it depends?
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