Difference between 悩んでいる and 苦労いる?
Hello,

I've been having some difficulty distinguishing between the following two lines? What is the difference in nuance between the two?

僕は今、大学生でこの先の人生で何をしたいのかを見つけるのに悩んでいる
僕は今、大学生でこの先の人生で何をしたいのかを見つけるのに苦労いる

I suspect that the former has more of a connotation of "worrying" while the second one is closer in meaning to "struggling" or "suffering", but how does each come off?

Thanks so much for your help!!

Question

Difference between 悩んでいる and 苦労いる?
Hello,

I've been having some difficulty distinguishing between the following two lines? What is the difference in nuance between the two?

僕は今、大学生でこの先の人生で何をしたいのかを見つけるのに悩んでいる
僕は今、大学生でこの先の人生で何をしたいのかを見つけるのに苦労いる

I suspect that the former has more of a connotation of "worrying" while the second one is closer in meaning to "struggling" or "suffering", but how does each come off?

Thanks so much for your help!!

Answer

Kanji ： 
「悩」： worrying (in your mind)
 「苦」：pain, painful , 苦痛（painful pain)、
「労」:　labor,  労働(labor)、労役(labor duty)、労務(labor service) , 
                 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　  * all  implying 'doing what you don't want to'

then
- 悩んでいる :    only sitting and thinking,  but not taking action.
- 苦労している：thinking, going around, and doing something

※ 
苦悩：painful worrying ( no action)
苦役：painful (forced) labor

※
商品を選ぶのに悩んでいる　:cannot find which one is better,  (still thinking around)
いい商品を見つけるのに苦労している: want to find the good one , (already started taking actions)

Answer

Hello.
I can understand why you've been  so. 
It's because both sentences are not  grammatically correct.

First one should be 
僕は今、大学生でこの先の人生で自分が何をしたいのかが見つからず悩んでいる
(What this speaker did is just thinking about what he want to do. )

Second one..
僕は今、大学生でこの先の人生で自分が何をしたいのかが見つからず(or ..を見つけるのに)苦労している 
(This speaker tried out different ways to find out what he want to do)

Answers · 2

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