88975
Can someone explain the difference between these two to me?

> 長い間日本語を勉強しなくて、下手になりました

> 長い間日本語を勉強しなくて、下手になっています

The way I understand it currently is that the first one indicates that at some
point in time, my Japanese has become rusty, whereas the second one indicates
my Japanese having reached said state (is in said state currently) with the
process (of deteriorating) still continuing, but I'm aware that I may be
entirely wrong and the second option can't even be used.
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2021-08-20T13:08:08.060
88974
2021-08-21T00:42:05.457
2021-08-20T14:54:45.060
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question
tense aspect
になりました vs になっています
下手になりました and 下手になっています may be used interchangeably in some situations, but
they are different.

下手になりました is **" became rusty"** — it simply refers to what happened at some
time point in the past. It does not necessary mean your Japanese is bad _now_.
For example, you may have restarted studying Japanese last month and your
Japanese may be good again _now_.

下手になっています is **" has become rusty"** — it describes the [continuation of
state](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/3122/5010) because なる is basically
an instant state-change verb. This does not mean the process is still
continuing, but rather means the deteriorating process happened _in the past_
and its resultant effect is present _now_. That is, your Japanese is bad
_now_.

Compare:

  * 日本語が下手に **なりました** が、勉強を再開して、今はまた日本語が得意です。: ✅
  * 日本語が下手に **なっています** が、勉強を再開して、今はまた日本語が得意です。: ❌
  * 日本語が下手に **なっ[ていました](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/57195/5010)**が、勉強を再開して、今はまた日本語が得意です。: ✅

If you want to say you are still in the deterioration process ( **" is
becoming rusty"**), you can say 下手になりつつあります or 下手になってきています.

**EDIT:** The teiru-form can mean two things, and you can "force" the
progressive reading using だんだん (gradually), どんどん (increasingly), 少しずつ (little
by little), 毎日 (every day), etc., as pointed out by aguijonazo. どんどん下手になっています
means "is becoming rustier and rustier".

(By the way, 長い間勉強しなかったので or 長い間勉強せず is better than 長い間勉強しなくて in this
context.)
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2021-08-20T14:38:20.103
88975
2021-08-21T00:42:05.457
2021-08-21T00:42:05.457
5010
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88974
answer