This grammar shows surprise. Something is different from what you expect. It is like saying 'for a...' or 'considering...'.
Noun + にしてはPrimary
Verb [dictionary form] + にしては
い-Adjective + にしては
な-Adjective + にしては
This grammar shows surprise. Something is different from what you expect. It is like saying 'for a...' or 'considering...'.
彼は小学生にしては、難しい漢字をたくさん知っていた。
For an elementary school student, he knew a lot of difficult kanji.
３年もアメリカに住んでいたにしては、彼の英語はあまり上達していない。
Considering he lived in America for three years, his English hasn't improved much.
この値段にしては、品質がいいですね。
For this price, the quality is good, isn't it?
初めての挑戦にしては、上出来だったと思う。
I think it was a great result for a first attempt.
練習を始めたばかりで下手だと言っていたにしては、彼はとても上手にピアノを弾く。
Considering he said he was bad because he just started practicing, he plays the piano very well.
This phrase points out when something is different from what you expect. It's like saying, "For X, Y is surprising." The surprise can be good, bad, or just unexpected.
This is different from 〜わりに（は）. That phrase compares to a normal amount. This phrase shows more surprise. It is also different from 〜にもかかわらず. That phrase means something happened even with a problem. This phrase means something is just not what you thought it would be.
Don't use this when you want to tell someone what to do. For example, don't say "For a first time, try hard."
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