[General] learn by rote

[vil]

Dear teachers,

Would you be kind enough to tell me whether I am right with my interpretation of the expression in bold in the following sentence?

Learning by rote is not always a good method.hamlet
If you learn a subject by rote, it will be difficult to say anything original about it.
learn by rote = to blindly memorize what was taught without thinking about it.

Thank you for your efforts.

Regards,

V.

 

[Rover_KE]

Yes - your interpretation is right.

Rover

 

[Heterological]

You are exactly correct. "Rote" means "repetition," or doing the same thing many times. So learning something by rote means learning it by doing it over and over again: a good method for, say, memorizing the multiplication tables, but not a good method for learning anything creative.

 

[Barb_D]

Yes, it does have its place. Multiplication tables are a good example.

For me, learning the gender of nouns required rote. La chemise, la chassure, le chapeau, etc. I had to immediately think "le" or "la" when I heard the noun, so rote worked there.

I don't feel quite so badly about rote as the original definition seems to imply.

(It's a bad way to learn the principles of physics. It's not a bad way to learn the periodic table in chemistry.)

 

[Offroad]

Is there any difference between 'learn by heart' and 'learn by rote'?

Many thanks

 

[Heterological]

"Learn by heart" has a much more positive connotation, even though it means "memorize." You learn a favorite song by heart, even if you learn it by rote (playing it over and over again.)