Re: To know and to understand

"necoandjeff" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message 
> "Daniel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> > "Bart Mathias" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> >
> > > I wonder how accurate it might be to say that "wakaru" has to do with
> > > information?  "Wakaranai" would be something like "I don't have
> > > access to the information to answer your question."
> > >
> > > One place that "wakaru" won't work is for knowing people, say.  No
> > > one would say "Ano hito wakarimasuka" for "Do you know that guy?"
> >
> > Using wakaru in that sort of sense doesn't sound too weird to me: How
> > about 'Tanaka-san to iu hito wakarimasu? se ga takai hito de sugu
> > wakaru to omoimasu ga, kare ni kikeba hon wo kashite moraeru
> > kamoshiremasen'
> 
> To ask someone "Tanaka san to iu hito wakarimasu ka?" isn't quite the same
> as asking if they "know" Tanaka san in my mind. It's back to the information
> concept. I imagine your example must be a situation where there are many
> people (like in a class or club) and the asker knows that the listener
> doesn't know Tanaka san but rather is asking if he or she can distinguish
> Tanaka san from everyone else for the specific purpose of approaching him to
> ask to borrow the book. In English it seems it would be closer to "Can you
> tell which person is Tanaka san?"
> 
> Jeff

Yes, that's what I meant to say.&#12288;The speaker is asking if the
listener knows who Tanaka-san is / could recognise him. Of course the
listener might know Tanaka-san very well, but the speaker's question
doesn't assume it.

Daniel