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Today when discussing language learning, I was corrected by a heritage Japanese speaker friend who changed what I said

多分書くのの方が難しいと思う

to

多分書くの方が難しいと思う

However, the discussion emerging from this post seems to suggest 書くのの方 is correct while 書くの方 is not. So I seem to have been in the right. But what about verb+のの+方?

This site, maintained by college level Japanese language teacher Kano Yoko, claims:

Q:日本語を話すのと書くのと、どちらの方が好きですか。Which one do you like, speaking or Writing Japanese?
A:どちらも好きですが、書くことの(or 書くのの)方がかんたんです。 I like both but writing is easier.

(Note:のの in the 書くのの is often omitted especially in conversation. Consider that it becomes a relative clause.)

In contrast, this answer suggests 書くののほうが上手だ sounds odd. So do the legality and idiomaticness of this construction depend on the verb? Do other verbs work better?

Side note: I did find some attestations of this: 書くのの方が問題。

Eddie Kal
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1 Answers1

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書く方が難しい or 書くことの方が難しい is the way to go.

書くの方が難しい is 100% ungrammatical. As I said in the linked question, 書くのの方が難しい is not 100% incorrect but it sounds fairly awkward at least to my ears. I suppose that heritage Japanese speaker felt the same way I did, but made a simple mistake while correcting it.

naruto
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    It was a [heritage speaker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritage_language) who grew up with one native speaking parent in an environment where nobody else around them spoke Japanese... namely ハーフ. I did double-check with them to make sure it wasn't a mistake on their part. – Eddie Kal Sep 24 '21 at 05:35
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    Hmm... 書くの方が難しい is somehow a very common mistake among Chinese natives speaking Japanese (it must be related to the Chinese grammar). Do you think it's related? And I didn't know the term heritage speaker, thanks for the info. – naruto Sep 24 '21 at 05:42
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    Well, it doesn't seem to be the case here. But since their dominant language isn't Japanese, there might be some issues in their use of the language. – Eddie Kal Sep 24 '21 at 05:55