A few grammar questions

[-悪魔-]

About this sentence:

他の国の言葉を勉強をすることはすごく難しいです

Now, I already figured out this says something along the lines "studying other languages is a little difficult", but what exactly is does the こと do? Does it have the same function as の would? It seems like it would have the same meaning if の were in place of こと.

Also, how do you say "I have a lot to learn"?

私はたくさん習う＿＿＿＿がある？いる？

 

[David Hallgren]

I think こと kind of makes verbs into substantives. I've heard すること (things to do) for example so I would translate that part of your sentence as
"The study of other languages is a little difficult"

 

[Buntaro]

Think of koto as the ~ing of English, that makes a verb into a noun:

Nihongo o benkyou suru koto wa muzukashii desu. = Studying Japanese is difficult.

This is the same as no wa:

Nihongo o benkyou suru no wa muzukashii desu. = Studying Japanese is difficult.

 

[-悪魔-]

So の and こと serve the same purpose in forming those kinds of sentences?

 

[Buntaro]

Yes, they both turn a verb into a noun.

 

[Elizabeth]

About this sentence:

他の国の言葉を勉強をすることはすごく難しいです

Now, I already figured out this says something along the lines "studying other languages is a little difficult", but what exactly is does the こと do? Does it have the same function as の would? It seems like it would have the same meaning if の were in place of こと.

Also, how do you say "I have a lot to learn"?

私はたくさん習う＿＿＿＿がある？いる？

まだ学ぶ (or 習う）ことがたくさん残っている. Many things still remain to be studied.
まだ学ぶ (or 習う）ことがたくさんある。 There is a lot still to study/learn. I still have a lot to study/learn.

他の国の言葉を勉強をすること（の）はすごく難しいです. の sounds better to my ears. One verb (benkyou suru) cannot take two direct objects as well, so it's either "他の国の言葉 no benkyou wo suru"
OR "他の国の言葉 wo benkyou suru" but not both.

By the way, where did this sentence originate ?

 

[-悪魔-]

の sounds better to your ears? Wow, that sentence came from my japanese pen pal.

 

[PaulTB]

One verb (benkyou suru) cannot take two direct objects as well

Hmm, well it certainly is possible (although not common) to have two を's used in the same sentence. Unfortunately I don't have an example readily to hand to examine in detail.

 

[Elizabeth]

And supported by Google as well which shows 勉強するのは難しいです as close to 3x more common than こと。

Hmm, well it certainly is possible (although not common) to have two を's used in the same sentence. Unfortunately I don't have an example readily to hand to examine in detail.

In the same sentence, yes..... 葉を勉強をすること looks more like unschooled or street grammar, though it may be OK.

 

[Elizabeth]

「の勉強をする」or「を勉強する」にしてください。 That seems to be the only error.

 

[wakaP]

Hi, Paul and Elizabeth.

１つの文の中に２つの「を」が使われる例です

例）私は日本を、（そして／いやそれ以上に）地球を愛している。

普通の会話ではこのような言い方をしません。
演劇での台詞や小説などでは使わていてもおかしくありません。

＜ルール＞
直接目的語（direct objective）が２つ以上ある場合、通常それらは「と」でつながれる。
（私は日本「と」地球を愛している）
しかし、表現上の理由から、目的語を「を」でつなぐ場合もある。