Difference 经验/经历

[SunnySideUp]

Same book, different exercise (and another round of confusion) ?

Fill in the blanks with 经济，经验 and 经历。

Now I've always understood the two latter words as meaning more or less the same, and pleco has almost the same entries for both of them. My HSK book says 经验 is a noun, whereas 经历 is a verb. Pleco lists them both as verb and noun.

Can somebody help and shed light on this? Is there a difference?

[大块头]

My impression is that they are similar in meaning, except that 经验 is used more often to refer to experience in the sense of "competence" （“他是一位有经验的老师。”）.

[Publius]

They feel more ore less the same because you're reading the English gloss. To get the nuance of a word, you need a lot of usage examples. And at some point, you have to switch to monolingual dictionaries.

 

These are the Chinese definitions from 《现代汉语词典》:

【经历】 jīnglì ①〔动〕亲身见过、做过或遇到过：他一生～过两次世界大战。②〔名〕亲身见过、做过或遇到过的事：生活～。

【经验】 jīngyàn ①〔名〕由实践得来的知识或技能：他对嫁接果树有丰富的～。②〔动〕经历①；体验：这样的事，我从来没～过。

See the difference? One is personal history, one is accumulated knowledge. English uses the same word doesn't make them the same concept.

You can say 惨痛的经历 because an event can be painful and traumatizing. But you can never say 惨痛的经验 because knowledge/skill/expertise always has a positive connotation, plus it's not a past event, it's a current asset.

 

Or split the English definition of 'experience' in two:

经验 =

1 a : direct observation of or participation in events as a basis of knowledge b : the fact or state of having been affected by or gained knowledge through direct observation or participation
2 a : practical knowledge, skill, or practice derived from direct observation of or participation in events or in a particular activity b : the length of such participation // has 10 years' experience in the job

经历 =

3 : something personally encountered, undergone, or lived through
4 a : the conscious events that make up an individual life b : the events that make up the conscious past of a community or nation or humankind generally
5 : the act or process of directly perceiving events or reality

 

[SunnySideUp]

Thanks, that's very helpful. I'm preparing for HSK 4 right now, so I think it will be a while until I can comfortably use monolingual dictionaries... but that's what I'm striving for eventually. Thank you.

[Publius]

Well, add oil and good luck with the HSK!

[Tomsima]

Don't know if its any additional help, as I also struggled (and still often make mistakes) regarding these two words, I look at the difference between the two characters used:

歷 tells us an experience was undergone...or experienced

驗 tells us about the examination, the trial, the testing that was carried out (successfully) during the process of this experiencing