勉強

[tanuki]

Hello!

How are you doing?

I don't quite understand how 勉強 is used when I want to say that "I study" something.

I've stumbled upon two variants, are they both possible/interchangeable? Do they mean the same thing, is one more formal than the other...etc.

"I study Japanese"

(私は) 日本語を勉強します。

(私は) 日本語の勉強をします。

Thanks in advance! Bye!

[aoeuaoeuaoeu]

I found this, searching with Google:
勉強します＝勉強をします
日本語を勉強します　＝　日本語の勉強をします

Personnally, I feel that '何かを勉強する’　is more common.　I see it more frequently.

[mandolin]

My penpal from Tokyo said my sentence '日本語を勉強します。' was correct when I asked him. It was the first sentence I tried to put together by myself. Maybe he was just being nice, but I don't think so....

[Zeo]

今、僕は 日本語 を 勉強して います。I study japanese (right now)

今日、僕は 日本語 を 勉強 しました。 Today i studyed Japanese

I also use "o" there, and I think that is the right way if you want to say what i just said.
But i may be wrong of course^_^

[ryuubu]

日本語の勉強をする means "(I) do Japanese study"

whereas

日本語を勉強する means "(I) study Japanese"

The first one would perhaps show up more in formal situations.