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I'm reading this article on how Amazon allowed their speaker to be used to donate to Japan's Red Cross. In the final sentence they get a quote from a Red Cross member, but I cannot make sense of the word 楽しみながら and the pairing of the word ほしい

I know ~ながら means while doing a verb and that ほしい is to express a want or desire. Also I believe ほしい can only be used to express one's own wants/desires. So I am not sure of my translation.

日本赤十字社の人は「今まで寄付をしたことがない人も、楽しみながら寄付をしてほしいです」と話しています。

My Translation: A member of Japan's Red Cross Society said "People who could not donate until now can also enjoy while wanting to donate"

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Your assumption that ほしい can only be used to express your own desires is the problem here.

Verb in て-form + ほしい = Want someone to do verb

The person you want to do the verb (if they are mentioned) is marked by に, e.g.

私はゆきさんに日本語を教えてほしい。
I want Yuki to teach me Japanese.

Your sentence:

今まで寄付をしたことがない人も、楽しみながら寄付をしてほしいです
We want even people who've never donated before to have fun making a donation.

Note that the people they want to do action are not marked by に here because they have been promoted to the topic of the sentence (but with は replaced by も).

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    I would suggest "...make a donation and enjoy doing it" or at least "and have fun doing it" for 楽しみながら. It sounds too much like they are doing something unrelated that's fun and making a donation at the same time.
    – By137
    Aug 6, 2018 at 17:57
  • Fair point. Is it better now? Aug 6, 2018 at 17:59

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