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In my exam, I came across the following sentence:

As business English teachers, we know how important it is to learn the key business language..... We also recognise the need to learn about business concepts, developments in business and how business works in different cultures.

Does "recognise" mean here:

  • We know? In form of experience...(Working with it some years)
  • We understand? In form of discern, realise (recognising)

The definitions given in the Cambridge English Dictionary:

recognize verb (UK usually recognise) ...

(KNOW) ​ B1 [ T ] to know someone or something because you have seen or heard him or her or experienced it before:

... Doctors are trained to recognize the symptoms of different diseases.

(ACCEPT) ​ B2 [ T ] to accept that something is legal, true, or important:

The international community has refused to recognize (= officially accept the existence of) the newly independent nation state.

[ + (that) ] He sadly recognized (that) he would die childless.

You must recognize the seriousness of the problems we are facing. ​

[ENDORSE; VOICE APPROVAL] C1 [ T often passive ] If a person's achievements are recognized, official approval is shown for them:

The Queen recognized his services to his country by awarding him an MBE.

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  • CED ? C4 ? /voice approval ?
    – FrankMK
    Commented Mar 10, 2018 at 12:25
  • 2
    It means 'accept, acknowledge the existence of" the need.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Mar 10, 2018 at 13:47
  • Actually, any of the Cambridge definitions quoted above would work, and they all mean essentially the same thing in this context. (The word is not exceedingly precise, in this sense.)
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Mar 10, 2018 at 14:15
  • 1
    'And we are aware that there is the need, the vital need, to ...' (so true and important).
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Mar 10, 2018 at 14:39
  • In my eyes it is something between "discerning it" and "understanding it" , with a touch of accepting :-)
    – FrankMK
    Commented Mar 10, 2018 at 15:00

1 Answer 1

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The Cambridge English Dictionary's definition

(ACCEPT) ​ B2 [ T ] to accept that something is legal, true, or important:

will explain the usage, except for how recognise came to mean that.

When recognise came into English it eventually displaced the word aknow:

admit or show one's knowledge

Why that happened probably cannot be explained, as recognise

"resume possession of land,"

as it originally came into English barely touched on the idea of admitting something.
Why aknow went away, or the current acknowledge isn't used to the exclusion of recognise (admit, accept) may well remain a mystery.

We also acknowledge the need to learn about business concepts, developments in business and how business works in different cultures

seems perfectly adequate , with no need for a word so heavily burdened as recognise.

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  • That was my thought.
    – FrankMK
    Commented Sep 19, 2018 at 20:29

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