What's the difference between encourage and inspire?

You can always check out the meaning of the words in an online dictionary. But words aside, what does your friend's girlfriend actually want from him? From what I gather, she may be thinking he is only paying "lip-service" as in things like "Sure, go for it" or "I am behind you". These are patronizing phrases because what she may be looking for is more than mere words but a PUSH like "Hey, that's a great idea...have you consider how far you could go if you consider this and this.." or " I know what you are thinking of...I can help you actually...." It is support that she is looking for and not just plain affirmations. Ask him to communicate deeper with the girlfriend on the issues she raised. I wrote an article in Triond on "Questions". You might want to refer your friend there and have a look. Search in www.triond.com for my pen-name "sgkeat".

"Encouraging" is like 'patting on the back,' while "inspiring" is more like 'issuing the secret order in the mind' . It's like if you were getting married; your friends and the fiance's friends encourage you to settle down in holy matrimony, but only you- & your fiance-inspire each other to go through with it!

Words aside, I don't think your friend's girlfriend has the right to ask for inspiration from your friend. If they are in an understanding relationship, then the most she could ask for is encouragement. Which I gather that he has given her. If she needs inspiration, she shouldn't nit-pick at her current relationship as inspiration can certainly be had at a lot of other thing. And yes, definition can always be looked at any online dictionary. I haven't looked.

My thinking is that they are similar but serve to different purposes. Such as encourage is to speak to a person and continually do so to motivate them to do something or changes. To inspire someone is how the person themselves behaves so that by their actions it inspires others to follow in the same footsteps. So you see quite similar only one is the act of speaking and the other is the act of doing, at least I see it this way.

Of course!... not, but they should be---I'll scream from the highest hilltops, 'SweetCatastrophe hath declared that "Encourage" and "Inspire" are now and ever shall be the self-same word. Now, kneel and say ten Hail SweetCatastrophes, and your sin of ever thinking different will be forgiven." (In case you're not in the loop on Catholic humor, the Hail SweetCatastrophe is a prayer modeled on the Hail Mary, a prayer young Catholics are taught to pray at Confession/Reconciliation---when they privately confess their sins to a priest and he tells them which prayers to pray in order to 'reconcile' his spirit to God.) But maybe they got their definitions mixed up; what I think she meant was that--rather than just 'saying it's okay to do what she wants'--Floyd encourages her so much that she feels 'more powerful about doing what she wants.' It's like in an episode of "Everybody Hates Chris," where Chris's mom got tired of his dad just saying, "Uh-huh, Uh-huh, Uh-huh" when she was complaining about gossip at work, but she felt empowered when he would repeat what she was saying, "She said you were lazy?... I KNOW she knows better than that!... You mean she went and did that after all the things she said about you?"

Simply put I think that Encouragement is to tell someone that they CAN do something while inspiration will show them that they WANT to.

If you ask me, I think encouraging is you get somebody a motivation to do something but inspiration is you do something that make people wants to do something... hm... ok I hav started to confuse myself... but you get what I mean?

To encourage someone you will guide and nurture them. you are part of the success process. To inspire, is the spark or feeling that begins a whole new way of thinking. You don't need to be present to inspire.

to encourage someone is to just keep talking about how and what would b best,but insipire is to show the best way it could b done.

Inspire means "People will get motivated sometimes by themselves or looking others achievements or influence and it will have a very great affect on people who get inspired." . but coming to encouragement "By the time people will get interest to do something by the influence of others but 100% they are not confident on what they are doing. ".