I have started learning Chinese these days

hirashin

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8 Apr 2004

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• 13 Jun 2017

• #1

Dear native English speakers,
Do you ever use "these days" like this: "I have started learning Chinese these days"?

Thanks in advance.
Hirashin

 

nice gaijin

Resident Realist

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• 14 Jun 2017

• #2

"starting" has a definitive start point, and "these days" is kind of vague and ongoing

I would probably use it with the present perfect continuous, if anything. So like: "I have been studying Chinese these days"

Use "these days" as interchangeable with "lately"

 

mdchachi

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• 14 Jun 2017

• #3

hirashin said:

Dear native English speakers,
Do you ever use "these days" like this: "I have started learning Chinese these days"?

Click to expand...

That sounds fine to me.

 

hirashin

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• 14 Jun 2017

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• #4

Thanks for the help, nice gaijin and mdchachi. Each of you has a different view. Interesting.
How about these? Would any of them be used?
(a) I'm learning/studying Chinese these days.
(b) I learn/study Chinese these days.

 

mdchachi

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• 15 Jun 2017

• #5

hirashin said:

Thanks for the help, nice gaijin and mdchachi. Each of you has a different view. Interesting.
How about these? Would any of them be used?
(a) I'm learning/studying Chinese these days.
(b) I learn/study Chinese these days.

Click to expand...

All four of these sound ok to me and all have basically the same meaning.

 

nice gaijin

Resident Realist

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• 15 Jun 2017

• #6

There's no issue grammatically, it just comes down to personal preference for how you want to phrase yourself. I can imagine slightly different situations for each of the sentences where they would be most appropriate, but I would stick with the present perfect continuous for the most part.

 

hirashin

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• #7

Thanks for the help, mdchachi and nice gaijin.