Difference between 摆脱 and 甩掉？

[cuppajoe]

Is there a difference between the meanings or the cases in which one would use 摆脱 or 甩掉? I know that 摆脱 can be used with some big issues (escaping poverty/fate), can 甩掉 be used the same way?

[flora4744]

摆脱is written language ，甩掉 is oral。 In the text and written chinese we always used 摆脱，just like 摆脱束缚，摆脱传统，but In daily life we can used 甩掉，for 甩掉这个人，in here you 甩掉这个人=摆脱这个人

ps：甩掉这个人 sometimes meaning Lovers break up

[doubdouber]

It's not really structured. I guess u just need to remember some fixed pairs: 摆脱负担，摆脱烦恼，摆脱someone annoying， 甩掉包袱，甩掉boyfriend/girlfriend. It might make sense if u take 甩掉as 'dump' and 摆脱as 'get rid of'

[cuppajoe]

Thanks! So, that's probably why I got so many sentences with serious/academic subjects when I searched for 摆脱. Do you know, does Taiwan use these words differently? In 花样少年少女, they have this dialogue:

(They're talking about a group of students that have been chasing the main character.)

Video:

http://www.funshion.com/subject/play/39037/1

39:35 - 39:40

你该不会摆脱那些学长了吧？

喔。对啊。我好不容易才把他们给甩掉的耶。

Is there any reason to switch verbs?

[doubdouber]

The same sentence can be said in the mainland and I don't think it's a regional difference. And yeah it's really hard to explain the differences in a structural manner. In this particular sentence, 甩掉conveys the message that they are very annoying and she hates them. It has a stronger tone than 摆脱，and also, 甩掉is or informal and oral.

[creamyhorror]

I think of 甩掉 as "brush off, toss aside", while "摆脱" is "escape, avoid". 甩掉 has more agency: you're able to toss the thing aside. With 摆脱 you only just manage to avoid whatever it is.

Of course, that example from 花样少年少女 might indicate 甩掉 is more "shake off" than "brush off", i.e. my agency distinction above doesn't always hold. In the end maybe 摆脱 is just more formal than 甩掉, and you should probably just memorise their various collocations.

[anonymoose]

I agree with what other posters above have said, but I'd like to answer this from another angle. I don't think the crucial point is that one is formal, and one is informal, but rather that 摆脱 is a fairly neutral word that just means to extricate oneself from something and therefore has a wide usage, whereas 甩 emphasises the movement of flinging something off. Since formal language usually uses words in a more precise or literal sense, it is only natural that 摆脱 would appear more frequently. Many things that one could 摆脱 one could also 甩掉, but this would be in a more metaphorical sense, unless the action actually does involve a flinging movement, and therefore relegates the use of 甩掉 to informal or poetic language in most cases. However, in the instances where a flinging movement is involved, as in 甩掉包袱 if the 包袱 is a real physical object, then I think it would also be perfectly acceptable to use 甩掉 in formal language.

[cuppajoe]

Thanks for all of the really thoughtful answers everyone! This makes a lot more sense now.