Difference between oír & escuchar?
...and examples of how to use them where they differ. (Like a sentence where you would only use oír, not escuchar, and another where you use escuchar, not oír.)
3 Answers
HI Joel, please make a search before posting, there are dozens of threads open on this topic, thanks, this is just one example.
My interpretation is that they are used roughly same way in Spanish and English :escuchar means to listen and oír means to hear.
I heard loud noises - Oí ruidos fuertes.
I listened to some music ' Estoy escuchando algo de música.
I am still a beginner so you might want to wait for others to weigh in on this one. Personally I think that there is more choice involved in listening, as opposed to hearing. I think you choose to listen to something, whereas sometimes you can't help but hear your neighbors arguing.
It's the famous line in the movie "White Men Can't Jump" when the two main characters are argueing about "hearing" the music of Jimi Hendrix or "listening" to the music of Jimi Hendrix. You can listen without hearing. Have you ever been in a conversation where you are there---hearing the words but not really listening to them? This is the only distinction I can really make. As for the sentences.... "¿Oyes al música? " Did you hear the music?" as opposed to "¿Escucha la música en la cocina?" meaning "Did you listen to the music in the kitchen?" I hope this helps and gets the thread going. 
