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> スーザンは一人で淋しがっています。

My dictionary translates the above sentence as: Susan feels lonely by herself.

But I read it as: "Susan seems lonely by herself."

がっています in my dictionary is defined as:

> Show signs of ~ | An auxiliary verb attached to a
> psychological/physiological adjective meaning a person other than the
> speaker shows signs of ~
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2018-05-17T06:32:28.287
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2021-11-16T23:22:42.383
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meaning translation
「スーザンは一人で淋しがっています」
"to seem" implies that it is unsure. But がる doesn't have a nuance of
uncertainty, so translating it with "seem" is wrong in my opinion.

...のように振る舞う。: Act (like)...

This is I think the closest definition of がる in this case. So I'd translate
淋しがっています by "She acts lonely".
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2018-05-17T06:45:37.903
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Breton's answer is not wrong. I like his explaination. However that
translation is just a literal translation. The sentence "She acts lonely" is
particularly strange.

The speaker has observed Susan, and interpreted her behavior/action as a sign
of feeling lonely. It's different from らしい、よう、そう where there are
uncertainties. With がる, you guess with certainty. That's why it's quite
uncommon in normal conversation, and more suited to be used in narrations. In
animations and such, it's more common to translate them as "she feels lonely,
she seems lonely, she is lonely" but with the implications that the speaker
observed her and noticed how she acted the loneliness. To be honest, I'd
prefer "act" as a translation, but this verb with some words, sounds
strange/uncommon.
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2018-05-18T03:52:47.297
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