I think he's practicing grammar by trying to create some complicated, albeit unnecessarily complicated sentences.
How would you say 'I am learning how to speak Japanese'/ I am learning how to (some verb action/ ie run fast, dance the tango, etc)?
Are you trying to reproduce the way yoda speaks? Even the English translations are unnecessarily complicated.
What I would say to a person if I wanted to mean what you are saying is '標準語を勉強しています。'
To recreate the sentiment of the grammar, my thought would be something like 勉強しているのは標準語の話し方です。
directly translating phrases from English does not result in natural Japanese, and stringing simple grammar structures doesn't result in more complicated thoughts, just more complicated sentences.
I would probably say 標準語を話すことです。 But no matter...the original statement was, to me, clearly responding in the context of a speaker learning various aspects of different languages simultaneously. Writing/reading Spanish....Speaking Japanese.... Understanding spoken Chinese...etc.What I would say to a person if I wanted to mean what you are saying is '標準語を勉強しています。'
To recreate the sentiment of the grammar, my thought would be something like 勉強しているのは標準語の話し方です。
For all I know, the subject/OP may have a real gift linguistically speaking...
>>言う is probably better than 話す in this instance.
こと is better than の in this instance.
Was your intent with the first sentence to distinguish Japanese from other languages and other modes of learning (This is the one I am learning to speak, others am studying for their writing, listening etc). ??Ha. Well I'm glad to hear that it's withing the realm of imagination (in other words I don't come off sounding like a complete idiot). Thanks for the input though, Perhaps I should consider making something more along the line of a conversation, rather than focusing on individual sentences in order to give the grammar a context.
If so, the below pattern occured to me as the most natural. And yes こと "sounds" better here, too, but I don't know if that's what I've heard most of or if it is simply more formal and therefore written in things I can easily read.
日本語では、話すことを習っている
Was your intent with the first sentence to distinguish Japanese from other languages and other modes of learning (This is the one I am learning to speak, others am studying for their writing, listening etc). ??
If so, the below pattern occured to me as the most natural. And yes こと "sounds" better here, too, but I don't know if that's what I've heard most of or if it is simply more formal and therefore written in things I can easily read.
日本語では、話すことを習っている
No, you're saying with just reason I've never seen it like that before.Are you sure you want that は in there?
No, probably with just reason I've never seen it like that before.I was just trying to distinguish it from other languages...
Was your intent with the first sentence to distinguish Japanese from other languages and other modes of learning (This is the one I am learning to speak, others am studying for their writing, listening etc). ??
If so, the below pattern occurred to me as the most natural. And yes こと "sounds" better here, too, but I don't know if that's what I've heard most of or if it is simply more formal and therefore written in things I can easily read.
日本語では、話すことを習っている
There is a lot in Japanese that is understood in context. It's uncommon to specify "you," as it is usually implied by the context. If you wanted to be more specific with "I don't understand what you're saying," it would be 何を言ってるか分かりません. If you really want to specify "you," あ なたが何を言ってるか分かりません, but making that distinction is unnecessary, and seems a bit rude.
>>in your sentence, "僕はあ なたの話しているのが分かれません。", it appears you were using the の here to nominalize the preceeding verb when you should not have been. The こと that I changed it to means "thing" or "idea", so 話していること (or 言っていること as I edited it) would mean "what you are saying".
Just to clarify though, if I had to be really specific I could say something like you showed me, or i could say something like 「彼の言っているは変です。」 or 「彼が言っていることは変です。」 right? What's the difference if there is any?
Your first sentence is incorrect, and is why I recommend studying particles. The second one is a bit better, but in this case, it would be more correct to say 彼が言っているのは変です。
This list is a very useful, rough and ready compilation of usages to getting started with の、こと posted by member umbaba-san last year.
留学するの（when）は来年です。
会うの（when）はいつですか？。
歌うの（who）は誰ですか？。
結婚したの（who）は彼女の兄です。
仕事をするの（when）は明日からです。
一緒に遊んだの（where）はあの公園です。
失敗するのは（why）練習不足だからだ。
返事が来るの（when）は１週間後です。
勉強するのは（where）この教室だ。
人気があるの（what）は野球です。
スポーツを始めたの（why）は健康のためです。
Sentences の can be replaced with こと.
They are always followed by verb, adjective, adverb, form to do with your emotion. and other noun.
留学すること（の）が目標だ。
会うこと（の）が楽しみです。
歌うこと（の）が好きだ。
結婚したこと（の）を後悔している。
仕事をすること（の）は面倒くさい。
一緒に遊んだこと（の）を覚えている。
返事が来ること（の）を待っています。
失敗すること（の）には慣れています。
勉強すること（の）は得意だ。
人気があること（の）はうれしい。
スポーツを始めたこと（の）を知っています。
Your first sentence is incorrect, and is why I recommend studying particles. The second one is a bit better, but in this case, it would be more correct to say 彼が言っているのは変です
This is an important distinction between the use of の and こと. こと can used to nominalize a verb as a concept, and の can be used when talking about a single instance of an action:
宿題を出すのを忘れました。 I forgot to turn in my homework,
or to nominalize the verb itself
漢字を書くのが難しいです。 It is hard to write kanji.
What was quoted was umbaba's opinion, so it's not my standpoint at all. ButFirst of all, thanks Elizabeth for digging up that list. I'm not sure what's going on here though. It seems like you and Nice Gaijin have somewhat different reasonings behind the differences between こと and の. And to be completely honest I don't entirely understand your standpoint on it. It seems like you're saying that こと is more appropriate for personal feelings, but I'm really not sure.
What was quoted was umbaba's opinion, so it's not my standpoint at all.
But の is generally more personal, conversational and emotive than こと。The degree to which they are interchangeable grammatically or in common practice varies extremely from case to case. I don't know how to make it any clearer that you are absolutely going to need to start with as few words and as simple a structure as possible until you've built up enough familiarity and understanding of the language to know what sounds natural from Japanese to English.