Differences between 類似 and ような


Is there any difference to how and when 類似 and ような are used? For example:

英国で同じようなことです。

英国で類似のことです。

Thanks.




Although "同じような" and "類似の" look like saying the same thing, there is a clear
difference of the nuance.

“同じ” means “exactly same and identical.” "同じ" and ”同じような” are different. The
latter means “something that looks like the same.”

“類似” means “similar to” or “resemble each other.” Thus “類似のこと” means
“something similar to the other(s).” or “a thing resembling sth.”

By degree, “同じ – the same” is 100% identical, “ほぼ同じ” would mean, say 80 -90 %
identical. “類似 – similar” is, say, 70 – 90 in common, though judgemental.

In addition, "類似" sounds formal and bookish as compared with "同じような" and "似た."




ような is more colloquial than 類似. E.g. 類似 would be very rarely used in a
conversation. Conversely, 類似 is preferred when something should sound
official, e.g. `以下に類似する行為一切を禁止する`. If you say `以下のような行為一切を禁止する` it sounds
slightly odd because 一切 is very formal while ような isn't.

You can also use 類似 to create nouns like 類似品、類似行為、類似物 but you can't do that
with ような.

