笑いにも聞こえる

zuotengdazuo

Sempai

8 Dec 2019

830

19

• 24 Apr 2020

• #1

小さな、笑いにも聞こえる声が響いた。

Hi. Is the underlined part the same as 笑いのようにも聞こえる (sound like laughter)?

Thank you.

 

bentenmusume

原点回帰

Fifteen-year veteran

12 Oct 2004

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• 24 Apr 2020

• #2

I can't find the post I'm thinking of at the moment, but I feel like you asked a similar question before.

You could express a similar sentiment with のように, but patterns like Xに見える, Yに聞こえる, etc. do not require "のように". Adding it would lend a more explicit nuance of comparison, i.e. that it sounds like a laugh, but isn't one.

 

zuotengdazuo

Sempai

8 Dec 2019

830

19

• 24 Apr 2020

• Thread starter
• #3

Thank you, benten-san.
So how can I understand or translate ～に聞こえる if it's not exactly the same as ～ように聞こえる?

 

bentenmusume

原点回帰

Fifteen-year veteran

12 Oct 2004

1,613

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• 24 Apr 2020

• #4

As I already said above, it's the same basic meaning. ～のように is just more verbose and explicitly spells out that it's a comparison.

Xに見える "looks like X"
Xのように見える "looks as if it were X"

I mean, you can't capture it completely in English translation. The point is that Xに見える by itself can be used to mean "looks like X". Xのように見える is just a more verbose way to describe the situation that makes it clear that you're making a comparison.

 

zuotengdazuo

Sempai

8 Dec 2019

830

19

• 24 Apr 2020

• Thread starter
• #5

Thank you again.