The two phrase are interchangeable. You can compare A to B or A with B. If you compare A and B, it doesn't say anything. Are you comparing A to B, or are you comparing A and B to C? Oranges have more vitamin C compared to/with apples. The Europeans are more educated compared to/with the Americans. compare = 比較

compare to and compare with is very similar. Chris mentions compare to is used to compare things that are different in nature, while compare with is used to compare similar things. However, people use it interchangeably when writing. In Chinese translation, I don't think there is a separation of the usage of 'compare to' and 'compare with'. A compared to B ： A 比 B 。。。 A compared to B will be。。。 ： A 要比 B ... Compare A and B： A 和 B 做个比较 comparable: 好比： A 好比 B A is analogous (i.e. same as) to B last time： A 比照 B 上次 Compare and contrast A and B： 對比 A 跟 B

It's very difficult to explain but I'll try. (But sorry i can't translate them to Chinese). 1. Compare to - compares things that are different in nature. Compare with - compares things that are similar in nature. So, you can see two eras in history as similar periods, and compare them -with- one another. At the same time you can take two eras in history that are completely different and compare them -to- one another. 2. "A compared to B" is talking about A's relation to B. "Compare A to B" sounds more like you are telling someone to compare A to B. Here is a little article that explains it: http://www.dailywritingtips.com/compared-to-or-compared-with/