How do you use 教わる【おそわる】?


I understand that 教わる【おそわる】 is the intransitive of 教える【おしえる】 (to teach),
however I'm not sure how to use it properly outside of possibly in an
adjectival context (e.g. 授業で教わったこと). In practice, what is the difference
between 教わる and any of the myriad verbs for "to learn" (習う【ならう】, 学ぶ【まなぶ】,
etc.)?




I think the difference is that 習う、学ぶ can be done by yourself, whereas 教わる
can't be done just by yourself: you need someone (or something) else to teach
you. Note that 教わる is "to be taught."

When you say

> 授業で教わる

you implicitly mean that you were taught by a teacher. On the other hand, you
aren't implying that you were taught by someone in

> 授業で学ぶ

In the latter example, the class could have been a self-studying session where
you teach yourself (you don't use 教わる when you teach yourself).




教わる and 習う are almost interchangeable when you say:

> 田中先生に習っています。田中先生に教わっています。I'm learning from Tanaka sensei. / I'm in Tanaka
> sensei's class.
>
> 小学校の時、田中先生に習いました。田中先生に教わりました。I learned from Tanaka sensei / I was in Tanaka
> sensei's class when I was in elementary school.
>
> ピアノを習っています。ピアノを教わっています。I'm taking piano lessons.

I think 教わる is more used by older people. Your ma or grandma might ask
今日は何を教わったの？ then you'd reply つるかめ算(を)習った。(I don't know why, maybe 教わる is
politer than 習う? but you'd say 教えていただいた/教えていただきました, which is the humble form
of 教えてもらった/教えてもらいました, to sound respectful to the teacher.)

今日、授業で教わったこと, 授業で習ったこと, 授業で学んだこと sound almost the same to me, in meaning.
学んだこと sounds more formal and can also mean "something I became aware of /
realized from today's lesson (something more, something deeper than what you
were taught)". 習った/教わった sound more passive and 学んだ sounds more active to me.  

