I feel as though I understand what the below sentence means, but what I think it means makes no sense.
日本に行ったら、アメリカのいいところも発見できるかもしれないですね。
My translation: If you go to Japan, you might be able to discover good American areas.
Is my translation correct? If so, why? If not, what would your translation be and why?
Answer
I think what's throwing you off is that you're translating ところ too literally. ところ does mean "place", but it can be used on a much more abstract level, such as a point in time or a characteristic. For example:
学校へ行くところでした。- I was going to school. (Lit: I was at the point where I was going to school.)
彼は高慢なところがない。- He doesn't have any pride. (Lit: He has no places of pride.)
The ところ in your example isn't referring to literal places, but an abstract place like in the examples above. It's referring to the characteristics of America.
I would translate it as:
If you go to Japan, you might be able to discover the good points of America.
Where "points" refers to the characteristics of America.
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