"ことです" in this sentence?

[Anyaaa]

Here is the sentence:

つまり、［深刻な嘘をつくのは苦手だけど、害のない出鱈目を言うのはけっこう好きだ］というこ とです。

'In brief, you could say "I'm not very good at telling serious lies, but I quite like telling harmless nonsense."'

Is 'you could say' a good translation of ということです?
How would you translate it personally? And why does he use 'ことです' ?
How is it normally used?

Sorry about all the questions - I'm hiring a teacher soon, honest 0:-)

[Akihiko Yamamoto Hozagaki]

From my knowledge (and I would honestly wait for some of the natives to come around here), 〜ということです is just a filler. It's related to 〜という, and I don't think I've ever seen it literally translated.

I didn't make this example, but I found it on a grammar page. It might explain this better than me:

ということだ(1): "It seems that～" (something heard or read).
FORMATION:
Ｖ(plain form) + ということだ
いＡ + ということだ
なＡ・Ｎ + (だ) + ということだ

ということだ(2): "The fact that ～ means ～" (in other words; that is to say; in short)
FORMATION (same as above):
Ｖ(plain form) + ということだ
いＡ + ということだ
なＡ・Ｎ + (だ) + ということだ

Example that I made:
これは最良の映画ではないにしても、そうした映画の一冊だということです。
They say this is one of the best movies, if not, the best movie.

つまり、英語はもはや、アメリカの人々だけの言語ではないということです。
In short, it shows that English is not the only language of the people of America anymore.

Goodness, that was hard to explain. If I'm wrong, please don't flame mr ;___;. I tried my best to understand it myself. I remember having a really hard time understanding this concept in Japanese class.

[Anyaaa]

Pengin-sanありがとう！
I think I have a clearer idea of the idea now. I guess trying to figure out and explain a literal meaning for everything in Japanese is impossible huh? x)

Actually, I have another question while I'm here (to save on making a new thread!):
What does "何もしない。　それもすみのエネルギー" mean? It was written on a piece of calligraphy in a Japanese restaurant.
After that it said "ゆっくり、ゆっくり、歩いて行こう".
I understood that bit fine but just in case it helped proved some extra context... :P

[Akihiko Yamamoto Hozagaki]

もちろん！　どういたしまして。 日本語の文法を習う難しいことがある。

As for your translation, I believe it is this:

"You have nothing to do. Plus, charcoal energy."

I'm definitely not sure about the second sentence. It seems kind of random. Was there kanji for すみ? What a weird sentence XD!

[Anyaaa]

Whoops, forgot to come and check for replies! Sorry about that!

Nope, that's exactly how it was written in the restaurant. It's really weird isn't it? I guess if I ever go in there again I'll ask one of the waitresses. They were so stereotypically Japanese it was hilarious. I nearly burst out laughing when one of them said "sankyuu berii macchu!" in her very high-pitched voice. :P