Is it 'what it looks like' or 'how it looks like'?

I live in a country where English is not the native language. Oftentimes I hear my coworkers say they want to know or determine "how it looks like". This is grammatically closer to our native language than "what it looks like", which is the version I try to use.

I there a difference between the two, or should I just stop being bothered?

Solution 1:

Irrespective of the context, it is either "what it looks like" or "how it looks", not "how it looks like".

However, let me add that as much as it is grammatically incorrect, you can find any number of occurrences of the phrase in daily use. You will not see "how it looks like" in the writing of learned English users, though.

Google returns "About 280,000,000 results" for "how it looks like". However, the nGram clarifies that "how it looks like" is hardly used in Google Books. We may suppose that the difference is between 'popular' and 'careful' usage.

Solution 2:

"How it looks like" is not something a native English speaker would say.

There is a slight difference between "How it looks" and "What it looks like":

"Tell me what the sculpture looks like?"

... invites a detailed answer, probably involving the word "like":

"The sculpture looks like a killer whale leaping out of the sea."

Whereas...

"Tell me how the sculpture looks?"

... invites a value judgement:

"The sculpture looks pretty good."

The two can be used interchangeably, but the emphasis between objective and subjective descriptions is definitely slightly different.