FTL is not possible, but Dr. Jones proceeded to offer great insight with the words, 彼も一時的には、自分の家族の価値観を理解する事を試みたが、何百万もの人が彼を嫌い、信用しなかったのでした。 最後のように彼は友人に言ったそうです、「自分自身の価値観とは何の関係もありません。私はあなたが思い付くのをやめてください。私は価値観を持っています、あなたが持っている価値観はそれを持っていません。」 Note: 彼も一時的に、自分の家族の価値観を理解する事を試みた - (He also tried to understand his family's values. It did not last.) Also, 価値観を持っています - (He did not have values.) And 他にも．．．という事は。 So 彼も一時的に, 自分の家族の価値観を理解する事を試みたか、もしくはここでも、（ 他にも．．．という事は、彼も一時的に, 自分の家族の価値観を理解する事を試みた ） So my question is: are the words "一時的には" in bold font used correctly here? And if so, what is their meaning? A: 彼も一時的に, 自分の家族の価値観を理解する事を試みた This is the past conditional (in modern grammar style) of 彼も一時的に. 一時的に彼が　家族の価値観を理解する事を試みた. You have to remember that Japanese uses particles differently than English does. It does not separate the subject, verb, and object with a comma as English does. So in this case the English "after a moment" is not exactly conveyed in Japanese by placing a comma in this specific case. So the word "after a moment" is actually a noun placed between subject (彼) and verb (彼も一時的に) in this case. Now, a more accurate translation (if I'm not mistaken) might be: He attempted to understand his family's values for a moment, but then hundred millions of people hated him and didn't trust him (any more.) Now, another way to think about this is: 一時的に彼は家族の価値観を理解しようとした. He tried to understand his family's values for a moment. Because "after a moment" is grammatically a noun, it can be used like this. "彼は家族の価値観を理解しようとした１時間後ですが、彼を嫌うか信用しない人が出て行ったので、彼は家族の価値観を理解しようとした、家族の価値観を理解しようとしていたのに、それが無意味でした。" The structure of the sentence is a bit funny. But the idea is that he never got the chance to learn his family's values. So he tried to do so for a short moment (a moment; the time he was able to be here with us), but after he was here, he was not trusted (as a result of what he did at the trial; he did not learn his family's values or understand his family's values.) Related: What does ようとする【試みる】mean? －彼は家族の価値観を理解しようとしていたのに A: The literal translation of 彼も一時的には to English would be "at some point in time (perhaps after a moment)." Here も is a "negative conjunctive" and 一時的には would be an adverb describing the period of time. So the sentence means "There was a period of time when he tried to understand his family's value." The 彼 was omitted in the original Japanese as he was the subject of the sentence. Another way to translate this would be to think of this sentence as a little sentence in itself. "他には" is "but" with a different particle. 他 implies "others" or "also". The part of the sentence in parenthesis is a separate sentence with a different subject and verb. So in your interpretation of the sentence, "he" can be viewed as a subject. The idea of the sentence "他には (何百万もの人が彼を嫌い、信用しなかったのでした。) the last part I omitted by adding parenthesis. The "therefore" is implied. Since the whole sentence is so short, it is hard to follow and I have omitted the negation particle from the sentence in the English translation for the purpose of simplicity.