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The first one (接受 jiēshòu) seems far more general and frequent:

  1. 我接受邀请。 I accepted the invitation.
  2. 他将接受口试。 He will take an oral examination.
  3. 他拒绝接受治疗。 He refused treatment.

The second one (接收 jiēshōu) appears to be specialized in signal reception (and expropriation), but I found the following examples too:

  1. 我接收了邀请。 I accepted the invitation.
  2. 部队未接收他。 The army rejected him.
  3. 他接收礼物。 He receives gifts.

Are the latter simple typos? Is it possible to swap 接收 and 接受 in all these six sentences?

Aristide
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2 Answers2

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接受(accept) ≠ 接收(receive)

接受 means agreeing to something

接收 means getting something

I have made some amendments to the six sentences (in brackets) for clearer understanding of the meaning:

  1. 我接受(了)邀请。I accepted the invitation.
  2. 他将接受口试。He will be (accepting) an oral test.*
  3. 他拒绝接受治疗。 He refused (to accept) treatment.
  4. 我接收了邀请(函)。I received the invitation (letter).
  5. 部队未接收他。The military has yet to (receive) him.*
  6. 他接收了礼物。He received the gift.

接受 can be used in an abstract manner (邀请，口试，治疗) but 接收 has to be something physical (邀请函，他，礼物). Therefore, they can't be interchanged.

* These statements may sound unnatural to native English speakers. Gloss translation is provided to give the precise meaning of 接收 and 接受, and to avoid causing confusion to learners of the Chinese language.

杨以轩
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    I'd look at the second answer. There are circumstances where you can use either without much of a difference in meaning. – Stumpy Joe Pete Sep 26 '12 at 05:40
  • @StumpyJoePete, I would say those circumstances are by implication and not because they possess the same meaning. The statement "He accepted the gift" implies "He has received it". But it doesn't mean that he has to accept the gift just because he has received it. – 杨以轩 Sep 26 '12 at 10:02
  • Ok, not sure whether that's true, but it's a good argument. 10 points to griffindor! – Stumpy Joe Pete Sep 27 '12 at 00:24
  • @Daniel, thanks for trying to improve this answer. But reject is 拒绝 or 不接受. I have to disagree with your edit. – 杨以轩 Oct 19 '12 at 02:52
  • @QuestionOverflow - I was unable to catch you when you were online. I checked the suggested edited from Daniel and instances where I saw 部队未接收他 online say that: "The military rejected him". I am not claiming this as correct, but it is what I am seeing. Can you confirm your understanding is correct? – going Oct 19 '12 at 05:18
  • @QuestionOverflow - Example from dict.cn "由于体检不合格，部队未接收他。 The army rejected him as medically unfit." – going Oct 19 '12 at 05:23
  • @xiaohouzi79, you mean this? The subject is on "unfit", so the translation may be loose on other parts of the statement. I did a check on reject using the same dictionary and did not find that statement being used. I stand by what I have written to be accurate and disagree with the edit. – 杨以轩 Oct 19 '12 at 06:03
  • Ok I will leave it with you. I don't know better, just letting you know why I accepted the original edit. – going Oct 19 '12 at 08:39
  • Haven't seen any of the other edits, but "the army rejected him as unfit" is perfectly idiomatic English to describe someone not being accepted into the military. – Stumpy Joe Pete Oct 19 '12 at 18:25
  • @StumpyJoePete, you can click on the edit date to compare the edit version two and the rollback version three. There are situations where one-to-one translation is possible only with gloss translation. I have added a footnote to explain this. – 杨以轩 Oct 21 '12 at 02:52
  • Why this sentence use 接受 : " 心肌梗塞和脑中风等需要急救的重症患者难以及时接受急救治疗。" – Dini Apr 19 '20 at 06:44
  • @杨以轩 "gloss translation" wasn't easy for me to understand, so I looked it up. I think it may be better to say you are using glosses. "gloss translation" doesn't seem to be a standard term. It's discussed here: https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/gloss-translation.2758309/ – goPlayerJuggler Nov 19 '20 at 13:52
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邀请From 《商务馆学汉语近义词词典》：

同： 都表示受到、得到。当用于具体物品时，经常可以互相。

  • 每天过生日的时候她都等着 接收/接受 朋友的礼物。
  • 我可以帮你做这件事，但不能 接收/接受 你的礼物。
  • 他从来就没想过要 接收/接受 父母的遗产。

异：

  1. “接受”的对象可以是抽象的， 如“意见，建议，教训，考验，挑战，任务”等；“接收”的对象不能是抽象的

    • 他时刻准备着接受考验。
    • 我们要接受上一次的经验教训。
    • 小王说的很有道理，你应该接受他的意思。
    • 这一次他主动接受了任务。
    • 我们都应该虚心地接受批评。

  2. “接收”的对象是具体的除了物品以外，还可以是“信件，稿件，无线电信号”；“接受”没有这样的用法

    • 她在编辑部专门负责接收稿件。
    • 收发室每天接收大量的信件。
    • 天线坏了，接收不到电视信号。

  3. “接收”还可以表示接纳新成员和依照法令把某些机构、财务拿过来；“接受”没有这样的用法

    • 语言学会最近接收了一批新会员。
    • 联合国准备接收新的会员国。
    • 主管部门接收了那家公司。
    • 最近，一批腐败分子的房产被政府接收。

From 《现代汉语规范词典》：

"接受"跟"接收"不同。"接收"的对象通常是具体的；"接受"的对象可以是具体的，也可以是抽象的。如"接受批评"不能说成"接收批评"。"接收"所指的动作行为多带主动意味；"接受"则多带被动意味。

A brief summary:

Both sources say that "接收" can only be used for concrete things, while "接受" can be used both for concrete and abstract things.

《商务馆学汉语近义词词典》 adds that "接收" can be used to express that somebody is admitted to become a member, while "接受" doesn't have this meaning.

《现代汉语规范词典》 also adds that "接收" often has a more active meaning, while "接受" has a more passive meaning.

BertR
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