Comparison of Frequently Misused Words, eg. wakaru vs. shiru

[fireemblem8088]

I know that often, when new vocabulary words are introduced, you do often take some time to compare them against similar words. However, I think it could be expanded upon. I know in my case, I frequently misuse わかる and 知る. Every time I think I have the distinction worked out, I hear something that contradicts what I thought. I would really like to know when I can use one but not the other, and when I can use either. I think that, at least in this one case, it would be enough for an entire lesson.

Other words to compare might include:

tell: 教える vs. 知らせる vs. 言う
learn: 勉強する vs. 学ぶ vs. 習う
hard to: ～にくい vs. ～がたい vs. ～づらい
this/next time: 今回 vs. 今度 vs. 次回
do: する vs. やる
how/why: どうして vs. どうやって vs. なんで vs. なぜ vs. どう vs. どのように (please please please do this one)

And there are barrels of other similar words that certainly wouldn't take a whole lesson to differentiate, but I (and probably others too) would still appreciate if you could go over them. For example:

experience: 体験 vs. 経験
memory: 思い出 vs. 記憶
and maybe even something fun...
love: 愛 vs. 愛情 vs. 恋 vs. 恋愛 vs. ラブラブ

Thanks.

[untmdsprt]

My Mac has a built in dictionary that gives this for する, やる



用例組み合わせ："◯"=可, "△"=避けた方が無難, "—"=不適当

　　仕事を… 野球を… 会議を… 儀式を… 今晩、テレビで古い映画を…
する ◯ ◯ ◯ — —
行う ◯ — ◯ ◯ —
やる ◯ ◯ △ — ◯


Sorry for the spacing but the "..." separates the different uses.

使い分け
【１】「する」は、ごく一般にいろいろな動作、行為についていう。
【２】「行う」は、改まった表現。目的語も公的なものや熟語などが多く、はっきり決まった内容の事柄を受けて使われることが多い。
【３】「やる」は、口語的な表現。具体的な内容の目的語をとるより、漠然と動作、行為を表わすことも多い。

It seems to me that we're going to have to invest in a Japanese only dictionary to get answers to questions like these.

[Jessi]

Thank you for the suggestion!
This is actually an idea that has been sitting in our lesson idea bank for awhile now.
I agree that it would be a very helpful series (there are so many words that are similar!)- I will bring up the idea to the team again and look into it.

[untmdsprt]

Jessi,

Thanks!! At least you have two users backing you up on this one.

[fireemblem8088]

Thanks so much for the response, Jessi! It's great to see a website that takes user suggestions seriously.


Thanks untmdsprt too for the "to do" chart. That does make the distinction a little clearer. I'd love to see a chart like that for 知る and わかる (and some of the other comparisons I mentioned).

[Kat]

As Jessi said, I think this is a really good idea! I know I used to have problems with several of the words you mentioned. Just to quickly go over a few...

tell: 教える vs. 知らせる vs. 言う

Broadly, 知らせる is used in more formal instances. For example, お知らせ (Notice) is equivalent to one of those 'Attention' or 'Information' signs you'd see at the station or in a shop, etc.

教える as you know is literally 'teach', but this is the one you will hear most often in the sense of 'tell someone something', eg. 今週のスケジュールを彼女に教えてもらった (She told me/I had her tell me the schedule for this week).

言う is just 'say', and has no overtones of 'telling' or 'teaching' someone anything - 彼は火曜日だと言ったけど、私は違うと思う　(He said it was (on) Tuesday, but I think that's wrong).

hard to: ～にくい vs. ～がたい vs. ～づらい
～にくい is most commonly used in both casual & polite speech. 分かりにくい (hard to understand), 食べにくい (hard to eat).

～がたい is basically the more formal or written form of ～にくい - you'll often hear it in court trials, political speeches etc.　理解しがたい (difficult to understand).

～づらい ... personally I use this interchangeably with ～にくい (I'd like to confirm this with a native speaker, though!). The only thing I can say is that ～づらい sounds 'slangier'. I wouldn't say it in keigo.

do: する vs. やる
やる often has the overtone of 'trying' to do something, as in 'giving it a go' in English　（やってみます）. You may be aware that やる has a sexual secondary meaning, too. Basically, don't use やる in formal/polite situations; even やります isn't great. It can sound sloppy at best and rough and slangy at worst. If in doubt, go for する！

how/why: どうして vs. どうやって vs. なんで vs. なぜ vs. どう vs. どのように
GREAT question, this one!

どうして is 'why', a polite version. (どうしてそこに行くの？Why are you going there?)

なんで is also 'why', but a slangier/more casual version. (なんでそんなこと聞くの？　
Why are you asking me such a question?)

なぜ is the most polite and formal version of 'why'. （それはなぜですか？　Why is that [may I ask]?) It can be used on its own in casual conversation, though - just なぜ？ Why?

どうやって is literally 'how to do (something)' and means 'how'. It's very casual. (どうやって実家に帰るの？ How are you going back home [your 'real home'/parents' house]?)　どういう風に is the 'polite' version of どうやって.

どう literally means 'how' or 'in what way', and can be used in a number of ways. どういうこと, for example, is used often as an interjection to mean 'What do you mean?!'

And finally, because I really thought this was also a great question...

love: 愛 vs. 愛情 vs. 恋 vs. 恋愛 vs. ラブラブ

愛 is the equivalent of 'Love' (capital L) in English. As in 'Love is a many splendoured thing'. Used when talking about love in general. Not used lightly in conversation about real people - 大好き is much more common to express 'I love him/her', if indeed you get on to such topics at all. 愛している is only said in private to the object of one's affection... and I read a survey fairly recently that said a vast majority of Japanese men had never uttered these words in their entire life 笑！

愛情　is the -feeling- or emotion of love and/or affection for another person.

恋 is, to my mind, a 'lighter' version of 愛, in the sense that it often has overtones of youth and passion as well as innocence and 'first love'. It crops up a lot in manga for girls! 恋に落ちる is 'to fall in love'.

恋愛 is often used in phrases such as 恋愛経験 ('love experience', meaning one's romantic history). It can also be used as a verb （恋愛する・恋愛している）to describe 'being in love' or 'being in a (love) relationship'.

Of course, a lot of these are based on my personal experience and opinions, so there may be some differing opinions out there, but I hope that helped a bit!

[Kat]

I forgot to mention! ラブラブ is just like the English 'lovey-dovey', and is used to describe a couple who are completely wrapped up in each other. You can also say ラブラブ about yourself and your boy/girlfriend in a kind of self-deprecating way - 「ラブラブだよ♡！」"We're sooo in love!" 　

[fireemblem8088]

Thanks so much for the comprehensive post Kat! It was very helpful!

Just a couple questions though.

- I know 言う means "say", but I meant it in the sense of （だれだれ）に言う, which I'm sure I've heard Japanese people say in times when I would have used the English word "tell". Certainly the passive 言われる seems to be used in the sense of "I was told..." from my perspective.
I had this idea in my head that perhaps 教える was better in the sense of "to tell (someone) about..." and 言う was better for "to tell (someone) that...", but this is just a guess.

- With regards to my "why/how" question, there was a reason I included the two words together. It seems that they are not exactly 1:1 with their Japanese equivalents. The problem I have is that I don't know where this overlap begins or ends. I get the feeling sometimes, that there are times when I want to say "how" when どうして (maybe なんで too) is more appropriate than どうやって/どう.
This is part of the reason I thought it would make a good lesson!

Thanks again!

~ Max