教える, 習う, and 学ぶ: teach, learn from, and study
Separate giving instruction, receiving lessons from someone, and learning through study or experience. Track the particles for the person and the subject matter.
教える: pass on knowledge or a method
教える describes someone giving another person knowledge, a method, or information. 先生が学生に漢字を教えます。 Here, 先生 is the teacher, 学生に is the learner, and 漢字を is the content taught.
駅への行き方を教えてください。 asks someone to explain how to get to the station, even though no course of study is involved. When you see 教える, first identify who provides the information rather than assuming long-term instruction.
習う: receive instruction from someone
習う presents a skill or subject from the learner’s viewpoint, often with an instructor. 私は先生にピアノを習っています。 makes 私 the learner, 先生に the instructor, and ピアノを the subject being learned.
から can also mark the instructional source, as in 先生から習いました。 A learner plus に in a 教える sentence and a teacher plus に in a 習う sentence look alike on the surface, but their roles point in opposite directions.
学ぶ: learn through study or experience
学ぶ broadly describes acquiring knowledge, principles, or skills, whether or not a teacher directly gives lessons. 大学で日本史を学んでいます。 marks the university as the place and Japanese history as the subject.
失敗から大切なことを学びました。 shows that experience can also be a source of learning. Both 日本語を習う and 日本語を学ぶ are possible; the first more readily foregrounds receiving instruction, while the second foregrounds the subject and learning process. The boundary is not simply formal versus informal education.
Quick check: In 私は山田先生に茶道を習っています, who is learning, and who is teaching?
Show the answer and why
私 is the learner, and 山田先生 is the instructor. With 習う, person plus に marks the person one learns from. From the teacher’s viewpoint, this can be 山田先生は私に茶道を教えています。