One of our friends on Facebook, Bujdosó János, has asked us the difference between LEARN and STUDY.
This is a very interesting question, especially for those of you who are learning or studying English. So what are the differences?
Using our favourite online dictionary, let’s start by looking at the definitions:
To Learn - to gain knowledge or skill by studying, practicing, being taught, or experiencing something.
To Study - to read, memorize facts, attend school, etc., in order to learn about a subject.
It seems that studying is the action to reach the goal of learning.
This is why we can say “I studied but I didn’t learn anything”. This means I memorized facts or read about a subject, but for some reason did not gain any new knowledge or skills.
So why is it important to know the difference? Because you, the student, must concentrate on the final objective: learning. You want to learn English. Therefore, you must find the best way to gain this goal; maybe studying grammar for hours will not work. So you will be studying but not learning. Perhaps, the best way is by watching films or speaking to native speakers.
Share with us how you learn English in the comment section below!