A question about というのは

Japanese
#1

I can’t see the difference between every example sentence in というのは (JLPT N3) | Bunpro and the same sentence without というの. Take a look:

  1. 雪ゆきというのは、自然しぜん現象げんしょうです。
    雪ゆきは、自然しぜん現象げんしょうです。
  2. 人生じんせいというのは儚はかないものだな。
    人生じんせいは儚はかないものだな。
  3. 働はたらくというのは大変たいへんなことだ。
    働はたらくのは大変たいへんなことだ。
  4. 子供こどもというのはかわいいものだな。
    子供こどもはかわいいものだな。
  5. 習慣しゅうかんというのは恐おそろしいものだ。
    習慣しゅうかんは恐おそろしいものだ。

What are the differences between those pairs of sentences?

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#2

Honestly not much in terms of meaning but the というのは just adds/emphasises the phrase before it with the extra meaning of ‘the thing that is’.

It’s hard to describe. I’d reccomend just re reading the grammar point over and over again and eventually it’ll just…click when you immerse in content

#3

Basically, as far as I understand, というのは is explanatory in a way that は alone isn’t. I think in your examples, the sentence would still make sense with just は but というのは specifically signals to the listener / reader know that something explanatory (an explanation, definition, or reason) will follow.

While your examples are interchangeable, consider this pair:
雪は明日大変降りそうです。
雪というのは明日大変降りそうです。
In this pair, というのは doesn’t seem right as it’s maybe analogous to saying “the thing called snow is likely to fall very hard tomorrow”.

A place this grammar point really got hammered home to me is listening to learner directed podcasts where the speaker introduces a concept or term they don’t expect their listeners to know.

For example they might say something like this if discussing 地球温暖化 [global warming], but not expect you to know that particular 5 kanji combination term for it.
科学者は、地球温暖化が今日の世界が最大の問題だと考えている。
地球温暖化というのは、世界の温度が高くなっていることだ。

#4

Both Sore and Jean gave great answers, so I’ll just offer that to me it often feels like pontificating on the subject a bit.

In this example, the latter sentence feels like “life is fleeting” to me, whereas the former sentence feels more like “this thing we call life… it’s a fleeting thing.”

The meaning is literally the same, but including というのは sometimes calls additional attention to the subject in a way that prompts listeners to take a moment to distance themselves from their automatic mental categorization of whatever is being talked about.

It’s worth noting that this is a different sense of というのは than Jean mentioned in their podcast example. That is also a super common usage of というのは.

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