明白 and 了解. Is there a difference between these two types of saying "to understand."? I've seen 了解 written a lot in articles, especially academic ones.

My ¥0.02
明白 - to understand (it's clear).
了解 - to know (not necessarily understand)

Difference is subtle - as in english - 明白 is stronger, implying you both KNOW (了解) and UNDERSTAND.

了解- I think it's like saying: " I see" even though you don't understand everything, you understand most of it.

The main difference for me using those two words is that 了解 is more like "figuring something out", automatically implying comprehension of something more complicated than average or something you couldn't understand before.

明白 is flatter, just "clear", "understood", "I know".

I learned mandarin intuitively on the street, so I don't know if I'm correct. It feels correct, anyway.

hmm, odd.

my understanding of these is very similar to flengs, with 了解 being the 'bigger' word, and 明白 the more 'throwaway' word. like flengs, i also learned them 'on the street'.

what's odd to me is how all the other responses (including from the venerable laotou) seem to have it the other way around. what's going on?

I also feel 了解 is the big word, although it can sometime be translated by "know" instead of "understand".

明白 would be about understanding a fact or a statement. You got an explanation, and the explanation is clear.

了解 is more about wholly knowing and understanding a person, a context or all the ins and outs of a complex situation.

I 明白 Mr Zhang: Mr Zhang said something, and I understand what he said

I 了解 Mr Zhang: I know Mr Zhang very well, so I understand the way he behaves and thinks in general (I can almost predict it)

I 明白 a document : everything written in the document is very clear to me

I 了解 an industry: I know everything about the business model, the technics, etc..., so I understand everything related to this industry.

As per my moniker, I'm an old pigu, so the colloquial use may have changed from my generation to today. As a manager, when I hear staff or vendors tell me 了解, I'm never quite sure if they truly understand the task or instruction or just pretending to acknowledge and will then proceed to do "what they think" I want (usually mistaken) - usually with disastrous consequences - unless the speaker is an expert and they truly 了解.

了解 seems to be more of a self centric "I" know, whereas 明白 is a more interactive term - psychologically speaking - in the "I understand (you)" kind of way.

Example - I recently had a pseudo-electrician install new electrical outlets - so I told him where I want them - to which he responded profusely 了解. After installing the outlets - two side-by-side outlets were not parallel (obviously askew) and another outlet had a hole that the deco plate didn't cover up. So when I hear 了解 - I'm thinking - gotta watch this guy like a hawk and sit on them or I'm surely gonna get some kind of crap. The only people I believe who say 了解 are people who've known me a long time and we truly 了解 - it's mutual. So basically, whenever someone I don't know particularly well - ie we haven't established a long relationship based on mutual trust - says 了解, my BS alert starts honking like a kunming taxi driver. So, yes - colloquially 了解 is the bigger word - and I'm wondering why someone is trying to convince me 了解 when 明白 is sufficient and all I really want to hear - 明白?

明白 on the other hand (to me) implies clear knowledge and clear mutual understanding of MY orders, instructions, requirements and or specifications - and I'll actually get something close to what I expect - so, to me 明白 is a more mutually interactive and if such a thing is possible, precise term. It's also used profusely in the PLA, when accepting orders (HUA) - although somewhat abused more profusely in civilian domains.

It's just one person's observation from both English, Chinese (and other languages) - and kind of a subconscious language perk that I look for in negotiations and business meetings - but again, I'm a lao pigu and don't hang much with the next gens.

I think the difference is also that Ming Bai is used more in oral Putonghua more, but some dialects use LiaoJie more in spoken form.

In general LiaoJie is more bookish and formal.

Like Laotou says Mingbai is more of a spoken response to confirm you understand what was said, LiaoJie is a little more formal to say that you know/understand something or someone, but in general they are the same but it seems dialectal/regional use is different.

"明白ming2 bai2"similar with"懂dong3",means "understand—-need explain and then got it"
for example,afeter the teacher's explain,she\he can ask the students

teacher:"dong3 le ma? or ming2 bai2 le ma ?understand ?"

students:"ming2 bai2 le \bu4 ming2 bai2 or dong3 le\bu4 dong3."

"了解liao3 jie3" means "know sb or sth very well,know the details"
我认识John,但是我不了解他== I know Tom,but I don't know him well(where he from,what's he hobby,married or not etc)

我不了解中国的文化wo bu liaojie zhongguo wenhua == I know nothing about Chinese culture。

I still think the distinction is just like this: "to figure something out" or "to have it figured out"(liajie) and "clear, understood"(mingbai), and the additional discussion is a bit far-fetched or confusing.