Here in India, both the phrases learning by heart and learning by rote are taken to have the same meaning, i.e., blind memorisation without true understanding.
However, some sources say that to learn something by heart implies that one knows something so well that it has been thoroughly internalised and imbibed.
So is it wrong to conflate the two?
No. They are not the same. In fact, they are not even related much. Sadly though, the expressions came to be used interchangeably and even Wikipedia has merged them into a single entry.
Learning by rote is about the technique or practice of memorizing. Learning by heart on the other hand, is the nature or quality of what has been learned.
The director told me to learn my speech by heart. I had to go over it many times before I learned it by heart. (TFD)
This clearly shows the difference. go over many times is the process of 'rote learning'; I learned it by heart is the effect it produced or the quality of learning that was acquired.
learn something by heart
Fig. to learn something so well that it can be written or recited without thinking; to memorize something.
Compare:
learn something by rote
Fig. to learn something by memorizing without giving any thought to what is being learned. I learned history by rote; then I couldn't pass the test that required me to think. If you learn things by rote, you'll never understand them.
Do you notice the without thinking part? It occurs in learning in case of 'rote learning', and in recollection in the case of 'by heart'!
When I was at primary school in the early 1950s we were encouraged to learn things 'by heart'. For example we learned all our times tables from 2 to 12 'by heart'. We learned poems by 'heart'. At that time the practice had not come under the sustained criticism of educationalists that it has today. And the expression 'learning by heart' had a nice gentle ring about it.
I never encountered the term 'learning by rote', nor 'rote learning' until the practice started to become derided by people who claim to understand these things almost as though it were harmful to children's health.
My own suspicion is that whilst they mean the same thing, learning 'by heart' sounded too wholesome and positive a learning experience for those people who wanted to get rid of the practice. So an altogether less enticing term was introduced. I may be completely wrong about this, but that is my impression.
Is it wrong to conflate the two? I think that would largely depend on who you were talking to. Personally I have never understood why 'memorisation' excluded the possibility of 'understanding'. After all actors and actresses learn their parts 'by heart', or is it 'by rote'?
I would say the terms (which mean the same thing) are used by people depending on what impression they wish to create. Whilst Shakespearean actors probably memorise 'by heart' (because that is deemed nice), children are taught times tables 'by rote' (because that is deemed nasty).
Further thought.
@Damkerng T (below) has suggested that learning 'by rote' is only one method of learning 'by heart'. If that idea has substance it suggests that 'by heart' is a more general term and that 'by rote'is a subset of it. Could it be that 'by heart' refers to an end-result e.g. I know the 23rd psalm 'by heart'. And could 'by rote' refer to just one process by which you get there?
If I want to learn anything by rote, I would have to "consciously" keep repeating the thing I want to learn again and again, usually by speaking out aloud, until finally I can remember it. Usually, given that I repeat this enough times, I might finally "know it by heart". So in my opinion, "learning by rote" is a way (but not the only way) to "learn by heart". But the outcome ("knowing it by heart") is not guaranteed, since more often than not, students usually find the process of "learning by rote" hard to endure, so they stop before they can succeed.
Surely, learning by rote memory and by heart according to me are two different steps involved. Man has a natural tendency to forget so we use rote memory. While we need to understand what we are learning and reading. It simultaneously occurs. So read aloud first then write. Putting both ur mind and heart will express in form of a nice memory.
