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What's the difference between 関する【かんする】, 関係する【かんけいする】, and 関連する【かんれんする】?

I've tried looking for an answer on HiNative, and while I did find two
answers, I didn't quite understand the differences. I then also tried reading
the definitions for these words on dictionary.goo.ne.jp, which also didn't
help, and tatoeba.org only has one sentence containing 関連する【かんれんする】. Looking
the words up on jisho.org and eow.alc.co.jp didn't help either.
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question
word-choice
What's the difference between 関する【かんする】, 関係する【かんけいする】, and 関連する【かんれんする】?
**関する** literally means "to regard" or "to concern", but it's almost always
used as a modifier (either adjectivally or adverbially) rather than as an
ordinary predicate. It's used to tell what you are talking about.

  * 彼女に関する話  
a story regarding her

  * この件に関して話す  
to discuss concerning this issue

  * 明日の会議に関しては、…  
As for the meeting tomorrow, ...

**関係する** and **関連する** both mean "to be related" in English, and they are often
indeed interchangeable. 関連 tends to refer to more indirect relationships like
"different but conceptually similar", "have something in common" or "people
are often reminded of this". On the other hand, 関係 tends to refer to more
direct relationships like knowing or affecting each other.

For example, Babe Ruth and [Sadaharu
Oh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadaharu_Oh) have a 関連 (they are both known
as great home run batters) but people usually do not say they have a 関係 (they
didn't know each other personally). We say "CPUとメモリの関係" but not "CPUとメモリの関連"
because they are closely tied and work together. In Wikipedia, "See Also"
sections are called 関連記事 in the Japanese version because each article is
basically independent and does not affect others.
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answer
I often find that in such cases it's helpful to consult a kanji dictionary and
other words with the kanji involved to get a feel of the range of meanings.

For example:

> 関わる [kakawaru] be concerned in, have to do with
>
> 係 [kakari] 1) charge, duty, concern; 2) person in charge
>
> 関係 [kankei] 1) relationship, relation, connection, reference; ~ga aru, ~suru
> be related to smth., have a connection, concern; ~naku regardless of smth.;
> 2) involvement, participation, concernment; ~suru be involved, participate;
> 3) influence; ~suru have influence on smth.; 4) connection, sexual relations
>
> 連れる [tsureru] take smb. along
>
> 連続 [renzoku] 1) continuity, succession, series; ~suru continue, last; in
> compounds continuous; 2) continuously, without a break
>
> 連絡 [renraku] contact; connection; liaison; communication; ~suru contact;
> connect; communicate

(definitions from the JiShop dictionary)

From which we can infer:

  1. 関する is _probably_ similar in meaning to 関わる, i.e. it hints that something is connected or relates to the subject being mentioned.
  2. 関係 is possibly used to describe human relations or similar.
  3. 関連 seems to hint at some kind of _connection_ or link between the two subjects.

Of course, in practice it's a bit more nuanced as naruto describes, for
example in the vast majority of cases 関する is used as a set expression ～に関する～
and 関係 is not limited to human relations.

* * *

Another good option is to do a Web search for "X と Y の違い". There are multiple
sites and blogs devoted to such topics and even though most of them are in
Japanese you should be able to get a gist of it with some work (and practice
your Japanese at the same time ;) For example, from [this
page](https://meaning-difference.com/?p=1235):

> 「関連」は、「その人やものごとに直接つながりのあること」を表します。
>
> 「関係」は、「その人やものごとに間接的にでもかかわりを持つこと」を表します。
>
> 2つの違いは「直接的か間接的か」という点です

My take:

> 関連 shows that "those people or things themselves have a direct connection"
>
> 関係 shows that "those people or things have a relation, even if indirect"
>
> The main difference is "direct or indirect" point of view.

There are also good examples on the page which show when the specific word
should be used or not.
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answer