わたしは第３の立場を取るつもりだ。

Sentence Discussions Japanese
#1
English Translation

I intend to take my position as a third party.

shouldnt there be a “者” after “第３”? googling “第３の立場” gives me weird results, specially the japanese wikipedia on political third position (第三の位置)

1 Like
#2

@ErisCeos
Good catch!

  • 私は第三の立場を採るつもりだ。(note: とる should be 採る, not 取る) = l’ll take the third option or l’ll agree with the third opinion. There are three or more than three options presented. And the speaker picks up the third one.

  • 私は第三者の立場を採るつもりだ。= I don’t want to get directly involved in the interests of either of the two antagonists. I’ll act as a third party.

採る means “carefully weigh all options and alternatives, and then choose the best one” or “adopt a new plan/idea/system”. Comparing with 取る, 採る has a stronger connotation of decision-making process.