I have been struggling with the notion of "aneignen" in relation with "erwerben". Both seem to seem to translate to the English word "acquire", although seem to be highly context-specific. I was wondering if there was a clean translation between English and German between the two words. For example, when you learn a language, one would say
"Ich will mir diese Sprache aneignen."
Translated into English, you could say acquire, but then I ask, doesn't "erwerben" mean acquire? Other possible translations of aneignen includes "appropriate", but nobody would say that in everyday English.
Could somebody help clarify the difference here and if "aneignen" has a clear English translation, or at least provide some examples where one word would work and the other would not? Thanks!
Mark