～として
as / in the capacity of
～として follows a noun and marks the role, status, or capacity in which someone or something acts. It maps almost directly to English “as”: “as a doctor”, “as a hobby”, “as a gift”.
Be careful not to confuse it with ～にとって, which gives a point of view for a judgment (“for me, ...”); ～として instead names the hat someone is wearing while they act.
1. A person's role or status
The most common use: the noun before として is a profession, position, or identity, and the rest of the sentence describes what the person does or how they are treated in that role.
彼女はピアニストとして認められた。
“She was recognized as a pianist.”
- 彼女（かのじょ）= she
- は = topic marker
- ピアニスト = pianist
- として = as / in the capacity of
- 認められた（みとめられた）= was recognized
2. A thing's function or category
として also labels what role a thing plays: something done as a hobby, given as a present, or used as evidence.
趣味として写真を撮っています。
“I take photos as a hobby.”
- 趣味（しゅみ）= hobby
- として = as
- 写真（しゃしん）= photo
- を = object marker
- 撮っています（とっています）= take (habitually)
How to form it
Noun + として
- 医者（いしゃ）= doctor → 医者として（いしゃとして）= as a doctor
- 趣味（しゅみ）= hobby → 趣味として（しゅみとして）= as a hobby
- 代表（だいひょう）= representative → 代表として（だいひょうとして）= as a representative
Key idea
～として answers the question “in what capacity?” Whenever English uses “as” to name a role, “as a friend, I have to tell you...”, Japanese uses として.
Other N3 grammar
Updated .