1. Means instead.
Examples:
- 引っ越しを手伝ってもらった代わりに、食事をごちそうしょう。Instead of having your move helped, let's have a meal.
- 友達にノートを貸してもらう代わりに、夕飯をごちそうすることにした。Instead of having a friend lend me a notebook, I decided to feast on dinner.
- 私が課長の代わりに明日の展覧会に参加する。I will attend tomorrow's exhibition on behalf of the chief.
When connecting a noun, it means to do something on behalf of someone. When connecting a verb, it often means "return, compensation, exchange of terms" and so on.
2. Express the opposite sides of things, "Although.../…but"
- この仕事は安定している代わりに、給料があまり高くない。This job is stable, but the salary is not very high.
- インターネットの普及でさまざまな情報が手に入る代わりに、人とのコミュニケーションが少なくなった。With the spread of the Internet, various information is available, but communication with people has decreased.
- 都市化が進んでいく中で、面倒くさい近所づきあいから解放された代わりに、子育ての援助者を失っていく。As urbanization progresses, instead of being freed from the troublesome neighborhood relationships, they lose their child-rearing helpers.
It means that something has both the positive side of the former and the negative side of the latter, and the two are interrelated, and there is often a certain degree of causality.
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