Difference between にすれば　にしたら　にしてみれば "from the viewpoint of..."


I'm using 新完全マスター N2 grammar book. It lumps にしたら、にすれば、にしてみれば and にしても
together. It makes no attempt to explain the differences between these, even
though, on inspection of the examples and practice questions にしても clearly has
a somewhat different usage from the others.

However, I can't distinguish a difference in usage for the other three. The
example sentences given are:

> 君も色々言われて面倒だろうが、君のお母さん **にしたら** 、君のことが心配なんだよ。
>
> たばこを吸う人 **にすれば** 、たばこの害についての話題は避けたいだろうと思う。
>
> 新しい高速道路ができて便利になったが、沿線の住民 **にしてみれば** 、あまりありがたくはないかもしれない。

Is there are actually a difference or are they interchangeable?




> Is there actually a difference?

Yes, there is a difference: That is for sure. It would usually be unnatural
for a language to have multiple words or phrases to express the exact same
idea if there were absolutely no difference among them at least in one aspect.

(What I do not know as an average, run-of-the-mill native Japanese-speaker,
however, is whether or not you would be required to be aware of the difference
as an N2-level Japanese-learner.)

On the native level, 「たら」 is generally regarded as more informal and/or
colloquial than 「れば」; therefore, this difference will be retained when forming
phrases and sentences containing 「れば」 or 「たら」.

Thus, 「～にしたら」 is more informal than「～にすれば」, and 「～にしてみたら」 than 「～にしてみれば」.

As a matter of fact, this difference I speak of can be clearly seen in the
three example sentences that you yourself have listed (unless this is
happening by sheer chance without the author's intention). The first sentence
uses 「～にしたら」 with the fairly informal and colloquial phrase 「心配なんだよ」. (I hope
you could tell 「なんだよ」 sounds pretty colloquial.)

The second and third sentences use 「れば」 with the far less informal 「～と思う」 and
「かもしれない」, respectively.

> Are they interchangeable?

Only to an extent, yes. You would need to know that native speakers would
rarely fail to notice the awkwardness of a sentence in which one randomly uses
words and phrases of different formality levels.

My advice is always: "If you changed one word in a sentence, you might also
need to change a couple of more."




> Is there actually a difference?

Yes, there is a difference: That is for sure. It would usually be unnatural
for a language to have multiple words or phrases to express the exact same
idea if there were absolutely no difference among them at least in one aspect.

(What I do not know as an average, run-of-the-mill native Japanese-speaker,
however, is whether or not you would be required to be aware of the difference
as an N2-level Japanese-learner.)

On the native level, 「たら」 is generally regarded as more informal and/or
colloquial than 「れば」; therefore, this difference will be retained when forming
phrases and sentences containing 「れば」 or 「たら」.

Thus, 「～にしたら」 is more informal than「～にすれば」, and 「～にしてみたら」 than 「～にしてみれば」.

As a matter of fact, this difference I speak of can be clearly seen in the
three example sentences that you yourself have listed (unless this is
happening by sheer chance without the author's intention). The first sentence
uses 「～にしたら」 with the fairly informal and colloquial phrase 「心配なんだよ」. (I hope
you could tell 「なんだよ」 sounds pretty colloquial.)

The second and third sentences use 「れば」 with the far less informal 「～と思う」 and
「かもしれない」, respectively.

> Are they interchangeable?

Only to an extent, yes. You would need to know that native speakers would
rarely fail to notice the awkwardness of a sentence in which one randomly uses
words and phrases of different formality levels.

My advice is always: "If you changed one word in a sentence, you might also
need to change a couple of more."

