# 看起来 / 好像



## Thime

大家好! 

 My teacher said that it's better to use 看起来 in the translation of this sentence: "You look much younger"_._
So, she suggested me to write: 您看起来年轻得多. Instead, I have translated 您好像年轻得多．

Would you consider both this sentences correct?
Are there any (implied) differences between 您看起来年轻得多 and 您好像年轻得多?

I, personally, can't find any difference, because in Italian both 看起来 and 好像 are translated with the same verb "sembrare".

先谢谢你们！


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## retrogradedwithwind

It.... it is just the way we say you look younger.
No apparent diffrence...

This link can be helpful though it talked about the usages in English. 
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=457131
Pay attention to #7

Maybe 看起来/听起来 and the likes originally come from English.


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## Thime

retrogradedwithwind said:


> It.... it is just the way we say you look younger.
> No apparent diffrence...


So, according to you, both the sentences are correct, and both have the same meaning?

EDIT: thanks for the link 

RE-EDIT
From what I've understood:
1) 看起来　= to look (have an appearance), so 您看起来年轻得多 implied that I visually recognize your appearance. _You *look* much younger._ (I see)
2) 好像　= to seem, so if I say "您好像年轻得多"  not necessarily I visually recognize your appearance, but I might have  perceived via any of the physical senses, for example from your voice.  This implies that the interlocutor isn't necessarily in front of me. I  can say 您好像年轻得多 when I call someone on the phone and I can't directly see him/her. _You *seem* much younger__._ (I feel)

Finally I would say that both 您看起来年轻得多 and 您好像年轻得多 are correct depending on the context.


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## Skatinginbc

To me, 看起来 and 好像 do not mean the same. 
You_ look _much younger with that hair cut 你剪了頭髮看起来年轻多了.
You seem not happy 你好像不高興.
You _look like _a child 你看起来像 (= 看起来 + 好像)個小孩兒.


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## retrogradedwithwind

I think you are right Thime.
For instance, I will say 
你好像才四五十岁呢，这么多活一个人就干了。
======= 
看着/听着等等短语 are the same as 看起来(像) and probably more general.
您看着真年轻
这沙发摸着像皮子的
屋里闻起来像是着过火似的


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## wendy1445xh

You look much younger
您看起来年轻得多 This is more Chinese.

您好像年轻得多．It sounds strange for me.


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## brofeelgood

There's also a growing trend of combining the two, e.g. 他看起來好像瘦了.

Maybe it makes a nicer sounding sentence, but it's tautological in my opinion.


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## learntheworld

In different situations, "You look much younger." can be translated differently. Here are some of the situations:

If a woman just had her hair cut, as the example given by Skatinginbc, you could say to her: "您看起来年轻多了." (Here, 您看起来年轻得多 alone without appropriate words before or after it would be unnatural to me.) Besides, I think it's also acceptable to translate "You look much younger." as "您好像年轻多了." (Please note it is not 年轻得多.) However, "您看起来年轻多了." shows that you are more sure about her being much younger. And I think 您看起来年轻多了 may be more accurate since the original sentence is more literally translated here. But "您好像年轻多了." is also correct as a translation in the right context.

If a woman, who is talking to you face to face, tells you her age which you didn't know, you could say: "您看起来年轻得多." Instead, you could neither say 您好像年轻得多 nor say 您好像年轻多了 since in my opinion they are not idiomatic here.

If a salesman, for example, who tries to flatter his customer, talks to that person on the phone, it's possible for him to say something like "您哪里会是60岁的人啊? 听您的声音, 您好像年轻得多." But that is not a translation of "You look much younger." 
It's just an example and there's no prejudice against anyone.

They're just my personal opinions.


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## Skatinginbc

retrogradedwithwind said:


> 您看着真年轻


This is the structure that I'm familiar with: 
 她整天买醉，看着真的很难受.  _It is_ truly heartbreaking_ to see _her getting drunk all day. 
血淋淋的毛鸡蛋看着真恶心.  _It is _truly disgusting _to_ _look at _the blood-dripping chicken embryos.
A: 「你死瞪著我幹啥?」
B: 「您看着真舒服。」  他伸手擦拭涌涌欲滴的口水. "_It is _truly pleasant _to_ _look at _you".

This is a structure that I'm NOT familiar with: 
您看着真年轻 *_It is_ truly young _to look at_ you .  That expression gives me a regional/dialectal feel because I've never heard people say that in Taiwan.


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## OneStroke

learntheworld said:


> If a woman just had her hair cut, as the example given by Skatinginbc, you could say to her: "您看起来年轻多了." [...]


I agree with learnthworld. 年輕多了 seems more appropriate.


brofeelgood said:


> There's also a growing trend of combining the two, e.g. 他看起來好像瘦了.
> 
> Maybe it makes a nicer sounding sentence, but it's tautological in my opinion.


IMO a more natural way to combine them is to use 看似.


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## retrogradedwithwind

Skatinginbc said:


> This is the structure that I'm familiar with:
> 她整天买醉，看着真的很难受.  _It is_ truly heartbreaking_ to see _her getting drunk all day.
> 血淋淋的毛鸡蛋看着真恶心.  _It is _truly disgusting _to_ _look at _the blood-dripping chicken embryos.
> A: 「你死瞪著我幹啥?」
> B: 「您看着真舒服。」  他伸手擦拭涌涌欲滴的口水. "_It is _truly pleasant _to_ _look at _you".
> 
> This is a structure that I'm NOT familiar with:
> 您看着真年轻 *_It is_ truly young _to look at_ you .  That expression gives me a regional/dialectal feel because I've never heard people say that in Taiwan.




Who is 难受/恶心/舒服？
I think the one who is looked at is 难受/恶心/舒服。

这蛋糕看着挺好吃的。
蛋糕 is tasty.

So, I think 您看着挺年轻的 is right.


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## Thime

Thanks everybody for the interesting answers! 
My doubt was only about the difference between 您看起来年轻得多 (that is the phrase my teacher suggested me to use) and 您好像年轻得多.
I forgot to say that the context in which was pronounced 您看起来年轻得多 was an interview. So... maybe this would score another point for 看起来 instead of 好像.


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## brofeelgood

retrogradedwithwind said:


> Who is 难受/恶心/舒服？
> I think the one who is looked at is 难受/恶心/舒服。
> 
> 这蛋糕看着挺好吃的。
> 蛋糕 is tasty.
> 
> So, I think 您看着挺年轻的 is right.



To me, context and word positioning play a big part in how each of the sentences gets interpreted.

您看着挺年轻的 - in this expression, the primary subject is 您 and what follows is no doubt in direct association with it. I would still feel more comfortable with 您看起来挺年轻的 though.

In regard to Skatinginbc's examples however, my instinctive assumption is the speaker who's feeling 难受/恶心/舒服. It's common to see it phrased as such in southern dialects.
- 看著 (閩南 - khuann tioh)
- 見到 (粵 - gin dou)
- 看到 (客家 - kon dau)

And it's also common to place 看着 at the beginning of the sentence, e.g.
- 看着她整天买醉,真令人难受
- 看着血淋淋的毛鸡蛋,真觉得恶心
- 看着您,真舒服




Thime said:


> Thanks everybody for the interesting answers!
> My doubt was only about the difference between 您看起来年轻得多 (that is the phrase my teacher suggest me to use) and 您好像年轻得多.
> I forgot to say that the context in which was pronounced 您看起来年轻得多 was an interview. So... maybe this would score another point for 看起来 instead of 好像.



Yes, 您看起来 would be better.
- 您怎么看都不像是50岁.您看起来年轻多了.


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## retrogradedwithwind

Brofeelgood, both 看起来 and 看着 are common, and perhaps it is my preference to say 看着 more than 看起来.

And you are right, the three examples Skatinginbc mentioned are a little bit different.

她整天买醉，看着真的很难受. 
It is more likely that the speaker is 难受。

血淋淋的毛鸡蛋看着真恶心.
It is uncertain that who (the speaker or 毛鸡蛋) is 恶心。

您看着真舒服。
Beyond doubt, 您 is 舒服，not the speaker.



> And it's also common to place 看着 at the beginning of the sentence, e.g.
> - 看着她整天买醉,真令人难受
> - 看着血淋淋的毛鸡蛋,真觉得恶心
> - 看着您,真舒服


Those sentences are without ambiguity. Maybe there is a same phenomenon that the subject 我 at the beginning of the sentences is omitted.


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## brofeelgood

retrogradedwithwind said:


> Those sentences are without ambiguity. Maybe there is a same phenomenon  that the subject 我 at the beginning of the sentences is omitted.



Genau, adding 我 would eradicate doubts regarding the "who" or "whom" in those sentences, e.g. 我看着血淋淋的毛鸡蛋,只觉得一阵恶心 or 看着你,我心里真舒服.


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## Skatinginbc

My comment regarding 她整天买醉看着真的很难受, 血淋淋的毛鸡蛋看着真恶心, and 您看着真舒服 is given in this thread: http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=2873821


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## TigerDaily

I thought many sentences, wanting to find the difference between 看起来 and 好像，but failed……
Putting aside semantic analysis, I just think “看起来” 更加口语一些。semantics


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## Bird in a Forest

This a relatively old thread but I thought I might throw my own two cents in.

Sensing Verb + 起来 is making a subjective judgement of something based on the Sensing Verb.
So 看起来 would be looks like (you saw something and now you have made a judgement about it).
And 聽起來 would mean you heard something and are making a judgement about it. It feels somewhat subjective.

好像 in comparison feels more objective, it might not necessarily be true but the facts lead to this conclusion. In addition it isn't necessarily through just seeing or just hearing something it is through several different facts and evidence which therefore makes it more objective.

So I think 看起来 does sound more natural with the sentence because she *looks* young, but it is only really through your seeing her that she looks young. There wasn't much other evidence to point to the fact she's young. Maybe if someone told you she wasn't married yet, then you might use 好像 because you have more facts that lead to that conclusion rather than making a judgement solely on how she looks.

It's the same distinction between *looks* and *seems* in English, synonymous but with slightly different nuances and usages.

Native speakers, please correct me if I'm wrong XD.


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## wendy1445xh

Bird in a Forest said:


> This a relatively old thread but I thought I might throw my own two cents in.[...]


For me, this is a very good explanation. Bravo!


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## retrogradedwithwind

Bird in a Forest said:


> [...]So I think 看起来 does sound more natural with the sentence because she *looks* young, but it is only really through your seeing her that she looks young. There wasn't much other evidence to point to the fact she's young. Maybe if someone told you she wasn't married yet, then you might use 好像 because you have more facts that lead to that conclusion rather than making a judgement solely on how she looks.[...]


哈哈，great。虽然都挺主观，但看起来比好像更主观一点


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