Telling 「せっかく」 and 「わざわざ」 Apart in Japanese

Telling 「せっかく」 and 「わざわざ」 apart in Japanese

🔴 わざわざ:
1, To go to the trouble of doing something, putting in effort, time, money…, not minding the difficulty, even though it is neither a duty nor something you have to do (used to acknowledge someone's effort, or in sentences with a positive sense）
✅例文
お忙しい中来てくださって、ありがとうございます。
Thank you for going out of your way to come here when you are so busy.

2, To do something deliberately in a more unusual or harder way, either on purpose or when you did not have to do it at all and yet went to the trouble.
✅例文
近道があるのに、わざわざ大通りを通って駅まで行った
There was a short cut, but I deliberately took the main road to the station.
わざわざ就職した。I went to the trouble of finding a job (it would have been fine not to, but I did anyway)

3, It can be used as a noun to thank someone for coming to visit, to call on you…
✅例文
わざわざのお越しありがとうございます Thank you for going out of your way to come here
わざわざのお見舞いありがとうございます Thank you for going out of your way to visit

🔴 せっかく:
1, It carries the sense of “a rare chance, after all that trouble…”, used when what follows is something of value, a special occasion for the speaker that the speaker wants to make the most of.
✅例文
せっかくいい天気になったのだからピクニックに行きましょう
Since the weather is so lovely for once (we must make the most of it), let's go for a picnic
せっかくパソコンを買ったのにぜんぜん使い方がわからない

2, It means: putting in a great deal of effort, getting through all sorts of hardship to do something. It can be used to encourage someone
✅例文
せっかくいい会社が就職できたのに、やるのはもったいない。頑張れ
After all the effort it took to find such a good company, it would be a shame to give it up. Keep at it!

3, せっかく can also be used as a noun modifying another noun, giving it the sense of being very special, precious, wonderful…
✅例文
せっかくのお招きですが、残念ながらいけません
Much as I value the invitation, I am very sorry that I cannot accept

4, せっかく is also often used in sentences with a slightly negative sense
✅例文
せっかく来たのに留守だった: After going to all that trouble to come, they were not in

Source: Gaikokujin Navi

See also:
Japanese Vocabulary for the Organs of the Human Body
Japanese Vocabulary That Comes Up in the BJT Exam