I'm familiar with the different verbs that indicate that someone or something was discovered, noticed, or otherwise taken into consideration (わかる, 知る, 気付く, 見つける, 納得する, 見出す). However I'm having trouble understanding when to use them.
The most difficult part is knowing the nuances of conveying that I found out about people or events, so a few general guidelines would be much appreciated.
In particular, I can think of the following situations:
"I found out about..."
- a person, as in "I found out about (aka came across) singer X [and consequently started listening to them]"
- a quality of a person, as in "I found out that X was a painter [having known the person but not that s/he was a painter]"
- a preference of a person, as in "I finally found out (I learned) he likes his coffee black [after I finally got him to tell me]"
- a realization, as in "I found out (aka realized) I don't like wasabi [after finally trying it]" or "I found out (aka noticed) some people dislike Kyary Pamyu Pamyu"
- an event related to a person, as in "I found out X got married [having known the person]"
- an event in general, as in "I found out they'll demolish that building"
- a general fact, as in "I found out that dogs bark" / "I found out that [such] is [such]"
- the answer to a question, as in "I finally found out the answer to that question on the test"
This question builds up on this one on Y!A, also asked by me. I felt I needed to better phrase the question, so here it is.
Note, I do like wasabi.
