Change translation

[casper1134_512221]

Hello,

New premium member here, love the site and the forum.

Pleas assist: In my Japanese Pod 101 daily word of the day email, the word for today is "Change" which is translated as "Kaeru", but when I type "Change" into Google Translate, I get "Henka suru".

Which translation is correct? Are they both correct? When do I use the different words?

Please help, this is not the first time I have encountered this.

[mmmason8967]

Both of the translations are correct: henka suru and kaeru mean the same thing.

I think the difference is that kaeru is "wago" (Japanese native word) and henka suru is "kango" (word imported from China), and kango words and phrases are a bit more formal than the wago equivalents. It's similar to the way "conceal" sounds more formal than "hide" but they both mean the same thing.

マイケル

[community.japanese]

マイケルsan
Konnichiwa.
You are great as usual.

san,
マイケル san is a great teacher.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask us.
Yuki 　由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com

[j.c.s.black_507401]

i some how remember that each with thoze can have that suru or not and should be kept that way in a box to know there any word yu get to can have two meaning and one with suru........

[community.japanese]

san,
Konnichiwa.
Other verbs have the same thing, for example ‘eat’ means ‘taberu’ and ‘shokuji suru’, ‘cook’ means ‘tukuru’ and ‘ryouri suru’ and so on.
Yuki 　由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com