にかかわる and をめぐる

Table of Contents

にかかわる

Related to/Relevant to
Noun + にかかわる

にかかわる simply means “To be related to”.
Sometimes considered a different usage, it may be used with extremely important things to show relevance.

May be written as に関わる。

See also に関して

Examples

会社の問題は全員にかかわることだ – The companies problem affects/is relevant to everyone.
お客様のクレームにかかわることを報告する – Report anything related to guest complaints.
命にかかわる病気だ – A disease that is relevant to life -> A disease that is a matter of life or death. (You could die).
信頼にかかわる大きな問題だ – Its a big problem relevant to trust.

にかかわらず

Irrelevant (Contrary to expectations)
Noun + にかかわらず
Affirmative Verb/Adjective + Negative Verb/Adjective + にもかかわらず
Dictionary form verb/Adjective + かどうか + にもかかわらず

You will not be surprised that にかかわらず means “Not relevant to“.
It is used to when something is ignored or ends up being irrelevant to some action.
This should be contrary to expectations.

This grammar is a little weird, in that it can use a するしないにかかわらず pattern; When you would expect するかしないかにかかわらず. This pattern is probably acceptable as well, but かどうか easier so its not really used.

にもかかわらず is a stronger version of this pattern.

Examples

合格するかどうかに関わらず、終わったことを祝いする – Regardless of whether you passed, we will celebrate that its over.
頭が痛いのにも関わらず、赤ちゃんは泣き続ける – With no regard for my headache, the baby kept crying.
天気にかかわらず実行する – We will carry out the plan regardless of the weather.
彼女の意見にかかわらず次々に注文した – Regardless of her opinion he kept ordering (for her)

をめぐる

Center of a (Problem)
About
Noun + をめぐる

をめぐる indicates that something is the central cause; usually of a problem.
It is similar to にかかわる, but does not merely suggest relation, but cause and a big effect.

As you may have guessed it tends to be used with words like:
Fighting, arguing, war breaking out, problem, issue, etc.

This is more of a written phrase than a spoken one.

*めぐる as a verb means “Revolve around” or “Go around”.
Due to this there is a slight nuance of “Surrounding” an issue.

(Edewakaru emphasizes this, but weblio only suggests a central issue)

Examples

北朝鮮をめぐる問題 – Problems revolving around/about North Korea
所有権をめぐる戦争 – War around ownership rights.
弟の行動をめぐって、家族は言い争った – The family fought over the younger brothers behavior.
彼の処分をめぐって会議が行われた – A meeting was held surrounding what to do with him.