聞く and 聴く (Listen/Hear)

聞く and 聴く

I often "listen" to popular music.

Besides, these days I often hear the sound of rain.

In English, you can use the verb "listen" when you pay attention to the sounds coming into your ears, whereas you can use the verb "hear" when you are aware of sounds coming through your ears.

On the other hand, Japanese people say 'kiku' (きく) in both cases -- we do not distinguish between those pronunciations.

However, 'kiku' can be written as kanji in two different ways; 聞く and 聴く;

聞く can be used to mean both "listen" and "hear," whereas 聴く can be used to mean only "listen."

「聞く」と「聴く」

私はよく音楽を「聴き」ます。

そして、最近は雨の音がよく「聞こえて」きます。

英語では、集中して何かを聞くときには "listen," 何かが自然に聞こえてくるときには "hear" を使います。

一方で日本語では、どちらの場合も「きく」と言い、口語では区別をつけていません。

ただし、「きく」の漢字は大きく「聞く」と「聴く」の二通りがあります。

「聞く」はどのような場合にも使え、「聴く」は集中して何かを聞くという意味でのみ使うことができます。

• 聞く and 聴く
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• I often "listen" to popular music.
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• Besides, these days I often hear the sound of rain.
• Besides, these days I often "hear" the sound of rain.

  Use “” for consistency with previous sentence.

• In English, you can use the verb "listen" when you pay attention to the sounds coming into your ears, whereas you can use the verb "hear" when you are aware of sounds coming through your ears.
• In English, you can use the verb "to listen" when you pay attention to the sounds coming into your ears, whereas you can use the verb "to hear" when you are aware of sounds [coming through/arriving at] your ears.

  We usually say 'the verb "to X"'. Look up "listen" in a dictionary and you might see "to pay attention to sound", so "to listen" = "to pay ...".
  Usually, the verb "to X" matches up with the same word used in "I X", but not always. The verb "to be" has the 1st-person conjugation "I am". (the verb is not "to am", in other words)

• On the other hand, Japanese people say 'kiku' (きく) in both cases -- we do not distinguish between those pronunciations.
• On the other hand, Japanese people say 'kiku' (きく) in both cases -- using the same pronunciation for both.

  "those pronunciations" is a bit unclear because "that/those" are usually used to select one or more items from a larger group.
  You can also say "we do not distinguish between *their* pronunciations" (only one word changed)

• However, 'kiku' can be written as kanji in two different ways; 聞く and 聴く;
• However, 'kiku' can be written as kanji in two different ways: 聞く and 聴く.

  I notice that you switched from using "" to using ''. I suppose that it's OK if you want to use '' for Japanese words, so long as you are consistent.
  ':' is better for lists
  ';' could be used to add an explanation or extra note, but in this sentence, you talk about writing and in the following sentence you talk about meaning, so '.' is better.
  An example of using a semicolon:
  "'Kiku' can be written using two different kanji: 聞く、聴く; most Japanese people use both of them in everyday writing"
  (the "most people" bit is still talking about the same topic... how to write 'kiku')

• 聞く can be used to mean both "listen" and "hear," whereas 聴く can be used to mean only "listen."
• 聞く can be used to mean either "listen" and "hear," whereas 聴く can be used to mean only "listen."

  "either" sounds better to me because it's only one or the other at the same time (not both at the same time)

Very good.