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When talking about someone else, does 好き always mean that you have feelings for them? Or do people use it in a "you're cool dude, I like you" sense too?
If 好き is always romantic when talking about another person, is there another way to tell someone you like them, in the sense of you admiring/enjoying what kind of person they are?
When talking about someone else, does 好き always mean that you have feelings for them?
No, it depends on the context. 好き can be a perfectly safe choice in many cases. For example, if someone asked a question like "トランプとクリントンのどっちが好き?", one can easily tell it's not about romance but about politics.
But of course there are also situations where you need to avoid misunderstanding. The easiest option is to choose objective expressions that do not directly describe your feelings (e.g., カッコいい, かわいい, イケてる, 優しい, いい人, 結婚したらいい旦那さんになりそう). It's also common to use 好き and explicitly tell the type of your liking, e.g., 友達として好き, 恋愛的な意味じゃなくて好き, 友人として好きだけど女性としては見ていない, 好きと言えば好きだけど君が考えているような意味じゃない. 友達として好き is particularly handy.
Related: 「の」in「お嫁さんにしたいの好き」
