Hello everyone. There’s this thing that I’ve been thinking about, but couldn’t find an answer yet. I often hear it in anime. The word ‘wakaru’ translates to ‘to understand’. That’s fine. But if it’s in negative form, ‘wakaranai’ I often see it translated as ‘I don’t know’. In my native language, ‘to understand’, and ‘to know’ means different. (English is not my native language) Also, isn’t ‘shiru’ the word for ‘to know’? So isn’t it supposed to be ‘shiranai’ for ‘I don’t know’, and ‘wakaranai’ for ‘I don’t understand’?
Don’t get too hung up on precise word-for-word translations, languages don’t work like that. By listening and reading you will understand when each one is used, but there are plenty of articles on the internet explaining the usages of shiru and wakaru.
3 Likes
The whole thread is useful but in particular the link in this post.
知りません vs 分かりません - #27 by xv435
Everything will make sense one day. 
2 Likes
Wait until you realize that わかる doesn’t actually mean “to understand” but rather “to be understood”, since the thing that is known is the grammatical subject of the sentence. それがわかる
4 Likes
This topic was automatically closed 365 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.