迎えに行く

[Schizophrenic Cat]

Hi,

迎える is listed in dictionaries as to welcome; to meet, to pick up.

There's no problem with it in the sense of ''to welcome''. The thing on my mind is, is this the kind of ''meet/pick up'' for situations when someone has arrived somewhere and you go meet them because they don't know the way, or they have too much to carry by themselves? Maybe your friend comes to your city to visit you so you go and 迎える them at the railway station, rather than meeting a random friend in your city just to hang out? Is my understanding of 迎える correct?

 

[Joschl]

I think that the Japanese expression that you are looking for is [Someone]が[someone else]を[a place]に/まで迎えに行く.

 

[gengo]

The thing on my mind is, is this the kind of ''meet/pick up'' for situations when someone has arrived somewhere and you go meet them because they don't know the way, or they have too much to carry by themselves? Maybe your friend comes to your city to visit you so you go and 迎える them at the railway station, rather than meeting a random friend in your city just to hang out? Is my understanding of 迎える correct?

For that second meaning of "to meet," we would use 会う, etc. As Joschl says, for the meaning of "to pick up," we usually say 迎えに行く, rather than just 迎える. The simple verb is usually used in the sense of "to welcome," as in "お寺で新年を迎えました。"

Ex.
I picked up my friend at the airport.
空港まで友達を迎えに行きました。

Just FYI, the opposite (to take someone somewhere) is conveyed by 送る (友達を駅まで送りました).