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Whenever I see 「よく」, I have to ask someone whether it means "often" or "good".

For example, here is a sentence from my book:

> クラスへ行って、先生の講義をよく聞いて、ノートをよく取り、それをよく覚えれば、試験でいい点がもらえる。

I thought all three 「よく」s meant "often" _(eg. "often takes notes")_ , but a
Japanese friend said they all mean "good" _(eg. "takes good notes")_. He said
"often takes notes" would be 「よくノートを取り」. However, he doesn't know why.

How can you tell the two usages apart?
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2015-11-16T22:28:19.190
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question
grammar words syntax
How to tell よく (often) apart from よく (good)?
It's the placement of the frequency word (よく).

```

    先生の講義をよく聞いて -> Listen well
    
    よく先生の講義を聞いて -> Often listen
    
    ノートをよく取り -> Take good notes
    
    よくノートを取り -> Often take notes
    
    それをよく覚えれば -> (If) Remember well
    
```

If you don't see the pattern yet, **よく + verb** (directly preceding the verb)
would _generally_ have the connotation of 'well', while よく anywhere else in
the sentence would likely be 'often', with the focus of the sentence shifted
elsewhere.
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2015-11-16T22:34:40.293
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As Yuu wrote, there is a tendency that よく immediately before a verb often
means “well” and that よく at the beginning of a sentence often means “often,”
but it is by no means a firm rule. Word order is one of the clues, but in the
end, the distinction depends on the context.

For example, suppose that someone said

> よく先生の講義を聞いていれば、試験でいい点がもらえる。

Does it really mean “You will get a good mark on an exam if you are listening
to your teacher’s lecture _often_ (like two thirds of the time)”? It may,
depending on the context, but I think that in most contexts, it is more likely
that the speaker meant “You will get a good mark on an exam if you are
listening to your teacher’s lecture _carefully_ ,” even though this means that
the speaker used a slightly less natural word order.
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2015-11-16T23:03:15.410
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良く, yoku, means both "frequently" and "well". It's the same kanji as yoi but
in the adverb form. If you think about doing something well as being similar
to doing it thoroughly and doing it thoroughly as similar to doing it often
perhaps you can see the relatedness of the two concepts. One of the pleasures
of learning a new language is that it makes you think outside your accustomed
modes.
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answer