Is there any difference between, say, 子供の時 and 子どもの時代?
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2015-08-17T08:13:08.723
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2015-08-20T01:19:49.303
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word-choice
時代 and 時 difference
The difference is slight, but there definitely is a difference. The easiest
way to think of it in my opinion is that "の時" means "when" and "の時代" means
"generation".

So, for your example, I would translate them as follows:

子供の時 - When I was a kid

子供の時代 - Our generation when I was young

So, you can see that the "時代" translation doesn't work too well, and this is
largely because "時代" is very context heavy. So, a good example would be a
conversation like this:

"あなたは25歳の時に携帯電話あったでしょう？"

"うん、ありましたよ。"

"私たちの時代はなかったよ。"

So, this would roughly translate as follows:

"When you were 25 years old, there were cell phones, weren't there?"

"Yes, there were."

"My generation didn't have them."

You can see here that "の時" didn't need much context around it, and since the
context has already been established, "の時代" becomes much easier to translate.
Furthermore, "の時" carries a bit more specificity to it. By using "25歳の時" it
definitely sounds like we're talking about a very specific year, but using
"私たちの時代" sounds more like we're talking about the speakers years between about
20 and 30.

The two are very, very similar, and my explanation may not be the best, but I
hope this gives you a bit more insight into the differences between the two!
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2015-08-17T14:13:22.423
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2015-08-17T14:13:22.423
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「子供の時」: The time when you were a child. (Similar expression: 「子供の頃（ころ）」）

「時代」is basically equivalent to "era" such like 「江戸時代 in the Edo era」(a certain
term in history.) In Japan, a name of an era changes when the emperor changes.

子供の時に、父と富士山（ふじさん: Mt. Fuji)に登りました。 （= 子供の頃に、父と富士山に登りました。）
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2015-08-17T14:23:42.253
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2015-08-17T14:23:42.253
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～の時 (read とき{HL}) is half a suffix rather than a noun, nearly equals "when ~".
So 子供の時 literally translates into "when (I was) a child".

子供の時代 means "the age of children". I don't know what it is, but it sounds very
poetic. Probably what you really wanted is **子供時代** ; it means "childhood",
and if used adverbly, "in one's childhood".  
( **EDIT** : Thus, if you compare 子供の時 and 子供時代, they show little difference
in meaning but 子供時代 sounds more noun-like and literary.)

They are so confusing, but when you say ～の時代, it only stands for some
historical period, but ～時代 can also refer a certain stage in someone's life
history (e.g. 学生時代, 記者時代, 女優時代 etc.).
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2015-08-18T13:25:03.813
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