興奮する to be excited or to get excited?


When I was [looking at a
dictionary](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/je2/25071/m0u/) the definition
(in the English part) was given as

> be [get] excited; 《口》be [get] worked up

What exactly these `[]` are referring to is unclear to me. From my
understanding 興奮している would describe the state of being excited (or having
become excited). If 興奮する describes the state of being excited then the usage
of 興奮している would seem redundant.

Maybe a few quick examples would help clear this up (or what I believe they
mean):

Example #1:

> そんなに **興奮するな**

_Don't get so excited, keep your cool_ etc. This doesn't mean 'don't **be**
excited', it means 'don't **become** excited'.

Example #2:

> 今日、「車の来る道な～んだ？」と、娘に聞いてみました。  
>  「あぶないから、おててをぎゅ！」と答えてくれました。
>
> 子供自身は、一応頭では理解しているようです。  
>  車は危ないということは分かっていても、 **興奮していて** つい周りが見えなくなったのかもしれません

In the above it is saying that his daughter was so excited that she
mightn't've been able to see her surroundings.

Example #3:

> 赤い色のギターを1ヶ月前に見つけて **興奮して** つい買ってしまった

This one says that saw the guitar one month ago. This caused him to become
excited, which led to him buying it (I don't feel like translating the usage
of つい or しまう here as they are not the focus).

So in #1 it was "don't become excited", #2 it happened because she was excited
and in #3 it happened because he became excited. Is this right?

An additional example
[here](http://www.coelang.tufs.ac.jp/mt/en/gmod/contents/explanation/046.html):

> (3) 「～に興奮する、わくわくする」の表し方
>
> 「わたしはその旅行にとてもわくわくしています」は、  
>  I **am** very **excited about** the trip. と表現できます。
>
> ☞ 「わたしは～にとてもわくわくしています」は、I am very excited about ～ という言い方をします。  
>  ☞ <am + excited> は、「（わたしは）興奮する、わくわくする」という意味です。  
>  ☞ <be 動詞 + excited + about ～> は、「～に興奮する、わくわくする」という意味を表しています。
>
> 「その男の子はその話に興奮しました」は、  
>  The boy **was excited about** the story. と表現できます。

They say that わくわくする、興奮する means <am + excited>. If this was the case then why
wouldn't they just leave it at that?

In part one of that link they use the example ～に興味がある to mean 'to be
interested in' and (obviously?) one does not use 興味があっている in this case (it
seems there are some results on Google search for this but most are learner
mistakes and I'm not checking the rest).

Anyone care to clarify things?




As you understand, 興奮する is not a static aspect (, which is 興奮している). In that
sense, the description of the dictionary should be "興奮する: get excited, 興奮している:
be excited". However the problem is, actual usage of the two forms isn't
correspondent between English and Japanese. For example, "I watched the movie.
I was excited" is (I believe) more common than "got excited", but
あの映画見てきた。興奮してた。is less common than 興奮した in Japanese.

A similar problem occurs between おぼえる and "to remember" (due to explanations
of dictionaries). おぼえる means (1) to feel (some emotion) or (2) to memorize /
to learn and never "to remember" but still, it tends to happen that an English
speaker use to remember where a Japanese speaker use おぼえる. They usually don't
bother to say おぼえておきやすい名前 for "a name that's easy to remember".




As you understand, 興奮する is not a static aspect (, which is 興奮している). In that
sense, the description of the dictionary should be "興奮する: get excited, 興奮している:
be excited". However the problem is, actual usage of the two forms isn't
correspondent between English and Japanese. For example, "I watched the movie.
I was excited" is (I believe) more common than "got excited", but
あの映画見てきた。興奮してた。is less common than 興奮した in Japanese.

A similar problem occurs between おぼえる and "to remember" (due to explanations
of dictionaries). おぼえる means (1) to feel (some emotion) or (2) to memorize /
to learn and never "to remember" but still, it tends to happen that an English
speaker use to remember where a Japanese speaker use おぼえる. They usually don't
bother to say おぼえておきやすい名前 for "a name that's easy to remember".

