This is my first time hearing about this rule too. If I caught that correctly:
~といった is for quoting something the speaker has said
~といっていた is for quoting something someone else said
I also don’t see a mention of this rule in bunpro on と Quotation と (日本語能力試験 N5) | 文プロ – 日本語の文法解説
I think it’s worth having this grammar point being added! I agree
I was struggling with the romaji lmao 
I could be way off the mark here, but I’ve never seen this as a hard or fast rule that the plain past is only used to report what the speaker has said.
Rather, there are a few elements that influence which form is chosen.
First, 言った deals with a single utterance, right? If the speaker was talking at length about some topic(s), then 言っていた is more appropriate, similarly, if something was repeated multiple times or said habitually, then you’d still use the continuous past. Essentially, any plurality of utterances would utilize that form.
“He said X” vs “He was saying X and Y” or “He was saying things like that”.
“Dad used to always say that.” “He often said those kind of things, but… (he didn’t mean it)”
Secondly, the speaker’s certainty (or lack thereof) of the validity of the statement has an influence on which form to use, and I think this is essentially what Misa is trying to get at in her explanation.
と言った。 is very matter of fact. If the speaker is relaying something that was just said involving a state of affairs (Tom said he is busy) or an opinion (Susy said she likes cats) it is safe to use と言った since we can assume that the validity of this statement has not changed.
If enough time has passed where the speaker can no longer be certain, then it becomes more appropriate for the speaker to use と言っていた because there is no way for them or the listener to know whether what the other person said is still true. “Sam had said that he wanted to go to China (but I don’t know if they still do…)”
“Tom had said he was busy… (but that was hours ago, maybe things have changed)”
Dear djcostcosamples,
What I’m talking about is not about “past continuous tense”.
I find it natural that if you are thinking “what?? how so?? is this guy crazy?”
I found it strange when I first encountered it years ago. But that’s just the way it is.
The thing to be aware of here is that “tte itte ita” should not be perceived as “past continuous tense”. Let me try to explain it most clearly by giving a single example.
If you are going to transfer something that someone said (mentioned) to a different person, especially after some time has passed,
that is, if you are going to say “Yukina loves cats (she said so)”.
If you say “Yukino wa neko ga suki da tte itta”, you will not be able to give the meaning you want to give to the sentence.
All same meaning and correct.
I listed them from top to bottom. ranging from casual everyday language to more distant and formal speech.
Yes, I can understand the surprise and doubt felt by someone who hears this rule for the first time even though he/she has been learning Japanese for so long.
I don’t know if it is in Bunpro, if not, the issue should have been clarified at least with the “additional explanation in the red rectangle” in the examples given in the “details” section of the “to” or “tte” subject.
For those who do not have much time, they can briefly watch the relevant second of the video, the link of which I will give below.
Even watching 1 minute of it will be enough.
minutes 12:24 - 13:24
Djcostco is right in his explanation we just can’t write “say” as a stative verb in English so he has to write it as continuous. Equally, in Japanese writing と言った is more common (unless it is character dialogue providing hearsay or something). The same rule applies to 思う or any other verb that takes the と particle although with different nuances. During a conversation it can hard to know which nuance to give as a learner but djcostco is right about using と言った to report something just said (instantaneous and not a continuous state).
Also, out of interest, why do you write using romaji?
For the following reason:
first, it’s easy for me.
Secondly, I do not have a Romaji keyboard, I need to learn how to do it first. I preferably find it easier to write “romaji”. There is no other reason.
And, yes, in casual conversations “to itta” or “tte itta” is the preferred way to use it shortly. However, unless you are a story writer or you are answering the question “what did the parrot just say?”, using “to itta” sounds strange in spoken language.
“To itta” or “tte itta” or “to iimashita” is always used when I convey what I said. But if what I am going to quote is someone else’s sentence and if it is not “I couldn’t hear what he just said”, it is not said as “tte itta”
“tte itteita” is used even if the person I am speaking to is “you”.
Example:
And better is, many people and also i wish to see “to itte imashita” lesson topic on Bunpro in future. Thats it.
There is only only 1 example with “tte itte imashita” on Bunpro N5 Lesson 6: 9/13 - example sentence 7. And its translation is not clear, it is confusing.
It’s like Hasbro’s “guess who said what to whom” game.
Yeah, when I say past continuous, I’m just referring to the general -ていた form (I don’t know what else to call it).
To really explain it properly you’d have to start talking about aspects and I don’t wanna bother.
I’ve never heard of this rule either, so I’m following with interest.
However, I’m a bit baffled that you haven’t gotten used to typing in Japanese. It’s really not hard to add another language’s keyboard. There’s tons of videos on YouTube explaining how to do this on all devices, and it’s stupid easy. You should definitely get into the habit of using a Japanese keyboard.
Actually you are very correct. There are over 2500 Japanese words that I know the meaning of. However, although I have seen the spelling, or rather the kanji, of many of these words, I do not know how they are read. More precisely, I do not recognize the kanji that I know the pronunciation and meaning of when I see a picture of it.
Actually, my story is as follows:
I don’t think you will ever bother us. On the contrary, I believe that each and every comment you will add to this subject will enable each of us to learn a new detail.
would you please say your idea, what do you think with this sentence???
I copied and pasted from Bunpro. May everyone be happy 
(I would like you to write your answer before going to the page and checking what the translation is. )
あの人が「あなたは綺麗ではない」って言っていました。
this is from Bunpro N5 Lesson 6: 9/13 - example sentece 7
What do you understand when you hear this sentence? Please read and share with us what you understand.
*The translation is located under the same sentence, I do not find it necessary to write it again.
But please, no spoiling the game. I left the mine, let’s see who will step on it. 
I’ll bite. The way I would translate that would be:
That person said “you’re not pretty”.
But I could also see it being translated as:
That person was saying that I’m not pretty (depending on context).
I’m curious about the gotcha part 
.
Suppose there are people A, B and C.
A said something “xxxxxxxxxx”
and now B is telling to C about what did A say…
firstly what did A say to B ??
and then, What did B say to C ??
YESTERDAY’s SMALL TALK
A: … … … … … … … … …
B:
TODAY’s SMALL TALK
B: あの人が「あなたは綺麗ではない」って言っていました 。
C:
WHO said WHAT to WHOM ???
Who is 醜い in this conversation ?
That was the scenario I thought of when I wrote my second translation, so I guess I already answered that question 
.
So you’re saying there are only 2 possible scenarios and I touched on both… right? Maybe there is also person D, who knows? 
No, I didn’t say that at all.
On the contrary, if you look at my second translation I did say “depending on context”. You gave a scenario that was similar to what I was thinking when I wrote it, but now you’re adding more variables after giving a specific situation. I feel like you’re being disingenuous in order to prove your point.
I cannot limit your imagination. I just drew a perspective. If I had thought that the answer to the question I asked was easy to understand at first glance, I would never have bothered to ask. You used your 
to reply. Just be patient and wait for other “brave hearts”. After a while, I will explain how many possible scenarios there are.
I haven’t read all of the message, mostly because yours are hard to read with all the romaji and formatting… But it feels like you’re just over analyzing this? Japanese is a highly contextual language. So trying to know “exactly” what is being said without that context is just ridiculous. Even being in the context, words can be ambiguous.
I don’t know what your Japanese goals are, if it’s just purely speaking or not… and I won’t tell you how to spend your study time of course, nor do I want to discourage you from these forums and your want to learn 
but if it were me, I would focus less on these discrepancies and tackle at least the first 100 kanji
I used to overanalyse everything I read in JP. Turns out that was the thing that held me back the most. It’s better to just move on, you’ll get it eventually as you start to use the language more.
Edit: While it may seem counterproductive to just skip parts of a sentence you don’t understand, I found the opposite is true, as often the context you require to be able to understand something said earlier on in the sentence can be found later on in the sentence.
When you stop to analyse every part of a sentence, you end up forgetting the context, which makes it even harder to comprehend what is being said. Increasing reading speed is key.
^^^ This
I will ask my Japanese linguist friend about this today to see what she says. I’m maybe she can help us get through the murk.
I agree with most others here that generally speaking the difference in meaning is negligible beyond an emphasis on confidence or time span.
Similar to past perfect in English.
The difference between, “I had said” and “I said”
Secondarily, I would not be surprised is it’s a conflation between the different kinds of た. While we learn that it marks past tense that is not 100% the case. It also marks completion in a stative way.
The most common version is お腹が空いた。Often this is mistransliterated has “my stomach emptied” rather it’s better to see it as “my stomach is(has become) empty” as the 空いた is a final state of a process, rather than a past action.
Like I said I’ll double check and report back in.