In English they both translate to travel, so I’m a bit confused. Learned 旅行 from school, but 走行 from WK, so not sure I’m getting the nuance here. Any help appreciated!
走行 is a more technical term usually used for vehicles. It can only be used for traveling in the sense of “the car is traveling westbound,” a kind of clinical description of movement. 旅行 is closer to what you think of first when you hear the English word “travel” - someone going somewhere far away, for work or vacation. It’s not quite as poetic as 旅, though - think of it more like going on a “trip,” as opposed to going on a “journey”. 旅行 is the most common of any of these words, so if you’re not sure just default to that.
In these scenarios it can be very helpful to look at the full definition in a dictionary to see various/alternate meanings and any contextual usage in examples.
旅行
Noun, Suru verb, Intransitive verb
1. travel; trip; journey; excursion; tour
走行
Noun, Suru verb, Intransitive verb
1. running (of a car, bus, etc.); traveling; travelling
走行
- 中
- の
- 箱乗り
- は
- ご遠慮下さい
- ！
Please don’t lean out of the window when we’re moving.
Noun, Suru verb, Intransitive verb
2. running (of a program)Computing, Rare term, See also 実行
Note that there is often also some useful info in the details for the vocab items in WK itself as well.
走行
This word is typically used to describe the movement of vehicles such as cars and trains. It carries a slightly formal or rigid tone, so keep an eye on our context sentences to make sure you’re using it right!