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みなさんこんにちは! :D

Is there a general means in 日本語 of describing something as being 'like'
something, while not literally being said thing.

Ive been trying to practice by (struggling to) write notes on things by
partially using 日本語, and in english class i ran into the problem of not
knowing how to properly write 'she is a vary child LIKE character'.

I normally just google these thīngs, but i aint been able to find a answer,
thus i was wondering if y'all might be able to inform me on this.

Thanks! :D
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2016-09-22T19:39:30.430
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2016-09-28T10:09:26.390
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question
word-choice words
Describing something as 'child like', and not 'a child'
How about adding っぽい after the noun.

> 子供っぽい = child-like/childish
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2016-09-22T19:44:45.413
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のように can be used when it's actually [literally being said thing.]

♪ うす紅色（べにいろ）の シクラメンほど まぶしいものはない  
♪ 恋する時の 君のようです 木（こ）もれ陽（び）あびた 君を抱（いだ）けば 淋しささえも おきざりにして愛がいつのまにか 歩き始めました  
♪ 疲れを知らない子供のように 時が二人を追い越してゆく 呼び戻すことが ...

> 疲れを知らない子供のように 時が二人を追い越してゆく

Here, it's not [literally being that said thing].

Time ( like children who don't get tired ) is overtaking ( and passing ) us.

Time ( like children who don't know to get tired ) is overtaking ( and passing
) us.
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2016-09-22T19:59:49.193
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Many expressions in Japanese seem to come in threes. For this one, "to be like
or similar to something", we also have three.

  * ～っぽい  
Similar to the English _-ish_ ending, with possible negative overtones.

  * ～らしい  
Similar to the English _-like_ or _-ly_ ending, with possible positive
overtones.

  * ～のように  
Much as H. Ha describes. Probably the most neutral in terms of overtones.

To compare, English _childish_ carries negative implications, while
_childlike_ is more positive. So too the English terms _mannish_ versus
_manly_ , _womanish_ versus _womanly_ , etc. The neutral Japanese ～のように might
be closest to the English construction _like a ～_.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-22T22:39:46.947
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2016-09-22T22:41:23.813
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[This answer](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/2401/1628) on the question
[Contrasting っぽい、らしい、みたい](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/2391/1628) goes
into detail on the different nuances between っぽい、らしい and みたい.

Quoting the part that is relevant for the current question:

>   * Modifier Xらしい roughly means "fulfilling with ease the requirements for
> X", with a nuance of appropriateness or approval.
>   * Modifier Xっぽい roughly means "strongly evidences the characteristics
> associated with X", with a nuance of inappropriateness or disapproval.
>   * Modifier みたい comes originally from 見たよう and it simply means "appears to
> be, looks like, acts like, seems like". It does not require that the
> information be obtained visually, though: 赤ちゃんみたいな鳴き声, etc. X みたいな Y carries
> the implication that Y is not in the category of X.
>

>
> Thus:
>
>   * 女らしい would usually be applied to women, who are expected to be womanly,
> and 女っぽい to men, who are not, or to women who the speaker judges to be
> acting in a too stereotypically "womanly" way.
>

子供らしい would thus appear to be natural for childlike _children_ and 子供っぽい for
childish adults (or adolescents).
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2016-09-28T06:19:02.257
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2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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