Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Chan-Seung Lee]

[myprofe]

If, as a child, you are bitten by a dog then you "learn" to be afraid of dogs. That experience teaches you to be afraid of dogs. As a result of this you prejudge every dog to be like the one that bit you. In the same way that you "learned" to be afraid of dogs you can be taught that the majority of dogs are not dangerous. Your fear or prejudice of dogs can be "unlearned".
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I'm never going to learn if you don't correct my mistakes!

[Chan-Seung Lee]

Thanks for your clear reply.

I can understand the meaning of 'learned', which means 'learned from experience'.

I am still wondering if the meaning of 'unlearned' is 'for facts which were learned once from experience to be forgotten by being taught'.

Am I right?

Thanks.

[myprofe]

Unlearn could be to relearn something that was learned incorrectly or to learn a new or better or different way to do something. To unlearn is to forget or abandon what you learned in order to learn something different.
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I'm never going to learn if you don't correct my mistakes!