日本語を勉強していて、楽しい？ meaning


日本語を勉強していて、楽しい？ (From Human Japanese Intermediate Ch. 24)

This is translated as "Studying Japanese, is it fun?" in the lesson which got
me a bit confused. Can someone explain more about what the て-form here does
for the sentence? Up until now in my studies, if I wanted to ask this, it
would probably be something like 日本語を勉強するのは楽しい？ or 日本語を勉強することは楽しい？

I do know that the て-form can be used to link phrases like in 猫を助けて、家に帰ります
where I'll help the cat and then go home, and this is the closest usage I can
think of for this case.




I feel the actual source of your confusion is the interpretation of this 楽しい.
楽しい in this context is closer to "are you having fun" rather than "is it fun".
See [my previous answer](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/66390/5010) for
the two possible meanings of 楽しい. A literal translation is more like this:

> 日本語を勉強していて、楽しい？  
>  Studying Japanese, are you having fun?  
>  Are you having fun while you are studying Japanese?

The te-form before this comma is functioning like "while" or "by", but I hope
you already know how it works ([this
question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/38769/5010) is relevant). Note
that the unmentioned topic is consistently "you" throughout this sentence. Of
course, it is also perfectly fine to say "日本語を勉強するのは楽しい?".




I feel the actual source of your confusion is the interpretation of this 楽しい.
楽しい in this context is closer to "are you having fun" rather than "is it fun".
See [my previous answer](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/66390/5010) for
the two possible meanings of 楽しい. A literal translation is more like this:

> 日本語を勉強していて、楽しい？  
>  Studying Japanese, are you having fun?  
>  Are you having fun while you are studying Japanese?

The te-form before this comma is functioning like "while" or "by", but I hope
you already know how it works ([this
question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/38769/5010) is relevant). Note
that the unmentioned topic is consistently "you" throughout this sentence. Of
course, it is also perfectly fine to say "日本語を勉強するのは楽しい?".

