Translating 年相応 into English


Is there any practical way of translating 年相応 into English? The context it was
used in was

> 彼女は年相応に見られたい

I was under the impression "年相応" refers to women wanting to appear their real
age, not younger than they are, but according to the comments and answers, I'm
mistaken. Maybe the sentence as a whole has that meaning.

I'm familiar with an English expression for women wanting to appear younger
than they are ("Mutton dressed as lamb"), but I haven't even heard of the
concept of women wanting to appear their real age, let alone how to express
that concept.




It seems your understanding of 年相応{としそうおう}（歳相応{としそうおう}） is a bit incorrect. It
does not refer to women who want to appear their age.

年相応{としそうおう} means "appropriate according to one's age".

> 年相応{としそうおう}に見{み}える: to look one's age.
>
> 年相応{としそうおう}に振{ふ}る舞{ま}う：to act accordingly to one's age

This can refer to any age group and either sex. For example, you can tell an
adult who is having a fit to act his/her age, and you can comment on a high
school student who looks like he is in his twenties.

I don't know a Japanese word (real or made-up) that refers to the specific
definition you are asking for. Note that if I were to say
「年相応{としそうおう}に見{み}られたい女性{じょせい}」(women who want to look their age), it can imply
"women who want to look their age (not younger, not older)". Whether it's
younger or older is relative to the person. Two example cases:

Imagine two people coming to ask me for advice on how to look 年相応{としそうおう}:

> 1) A high school boy that is constantly mistaken as his younger sister's
> father.
>
> 2) A 30-year old woman who constantly mistaken as a mid-schooler.

Both can ask the exact same question「年相応{としそうおう}に見{み}られたい」(I want to look my
age.) and both questions would be valid. For 1, the boy wants to look younger,
and for 2, the woman wants to look older.

Hopefully this clears up any misunderstanding you have about the word.

