察 vs 查

[jbradfor]

I'm having trouble distinguishing the meaning of these two characters. [The fact that they are pronounced the same doesn't help!] They both have similar meaning of to investigate.

Any suggestions on how to distinguish the meaning? Or should I just not worry about it and just learn the words that use them instead?

[leeyah]

Try comparing 察看 vs 查看:

察看>>watch, survey, look around, scrutinize (usu. a place/location or a situation)>观察，考察 （(地方，情况)，hence 警察

。。。的情况>>察看。。。的卫生情况

。。。XX 的房间(looking for evidence, etc)

+ the phrase 四面察看 (referring to location)

查看>>check, examine, look over, go over (usu. a document, a list/book) >>检查， 翻检着看(翻动查看(书籍、文件等)

上网查看以下 search online

查看电子邮件 check e-mail

查看证书 examine a certificate

but then there's also 调查 for 现场考察 ... looking through evidence in a specific location, probably

[jbradfor]

Hummm, OK. So the difference I get from this is that 察 deals more with the physical world (e.g. looking at physical objects), while 查 deals more with the mental world (e.g. looking for meaning). Does that seem close?

[muyongshi]

In these situations it is always best to like at a chinese-chinese dictionary. And by doing so we find that there is some overlap.

查->检查；调查；翻检着看

察->仔细看；调查

So we see that the do share the similar meaning of 调查 and we can also see that the 范围 of 察 is a bit narrower, meaning that the situations in which it used and the words it is 搭配ed with are probably going to be less.