覚える
o-bo-e-ru
In Japanese you can 'remember' a pain
The picture Something outside comes in and settles into a slot in the head or the body, and stays. 覚える moves in and fills the slot; 忘れる slips out and leaves it empty.
Where the picture shows up in 覚える
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A name settling in
お客さんの名前をすぐ覚えました。
o-kyaku-san no namae o sugu oboe-mashita
I learned the customer's name right away.
One look at the face, and the letters write themselves neatly into the name slot under it.
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Filling slots one by one
今日は漢字を十個覚えます。
kyō wa kanji o jukko oboe-masu
Today I'll learn ten kanji.
One character per box in the notebook until ten boxes are full.
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Sinking into the body
この仕事は体で覚えてください。
kono shigoto wa karada de oboete kudasai
Learn this job with your body.
The same motion repeats until the hands and shoulders run the sequence on their own.
体で覚える settles in the limbs rather than the head.
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A sensation settling in
胸に痛みを覚えて病院へ行きました。
mune ni itami o oboete byōin e iki-mashita
I felt a pain in my chest and went to the hospital.
An unfamiliar ache takes a seat in the middle of the chest and does not leave.
痛みを覚える is a formal way of saying you feel pain.
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Only one slot filled
顔は覚えているのですが名前が出ません。
kao wa oboete iru no desu ga namae ga de-masen
I remember the face, but the name won't come.
The face slot holds a photo while the name slot beside it stays blank.
All of it in one picture
覚える is one picture: something from outside settles in and stays. Let a customer's name sit in its slot and you have it memorized; fill ten slots with kanji and you are learning; let the order sink into your hands and shoulders and your body has learned it; let a strange pain settle in the chest and you are feeling it; fill the face slot but not the name slot and you remember the face only. In every one of these what moved in came from outside, and your part was only to leave the slot open for it.