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I understand the gist of what the final sentence is, but I don't understand why の was used instead of に. Is it because the 間 represents a sense of "when" (just as 'いつ' in いつ行きますか does), therby not allowing the use of the に particle?

夜は、英語の特訓。新聞や雑誌が読み書きの教材に、雑音混じりのラジオ番組が会話の教材にされた。食事や休憩の間は、アインは英語しか話さない。日本語を使ってくれるのは、講義間だけ。

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    食事や休憩の間 の 「の」は気にならなかったんですね・・
    – chocolate
    Commented Jun 22, 2020 at 1:04

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Just like 食事や休憩間は in your example, it should be 講義間だけ, not *講義に間だけ.

The の connects two nouns, just like English "of" does.

[名詞¹] + の + [名詞²] = Noun² + of + Noun¹
[休憩]{きゅうけい}[間]{あいだ} -- lit. time of break → during the break
[講義]{こうぎ}[間]{あいだ} -- lit. time of lecture → during the lecture
[英語]{えいご}[特訓]{とっくん} -- intensive training of English
[会話]{かいわ}[教材]{きょうざい} -- material of conversation

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  • It was a hour after posting my question that I realized that the no particle was supposed to be there, and translated the sentence as 'She takes the trouble to use Japanese, only during lectures.' I'm glad to see I wasn't mistaken.
    – Toyu_Frey
    Commented Jun 22, 2020 at 2:29

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