"Is this your Chinese teacher?"

Translation: 这是你的汉语老师吗？

[GaMic2018]

Using 这 alone here is rude. It's better to use 这位 or 这个人

[mrchachi123]

Can't we also write 中文 instead of 汉语?I was using the keyboard and not the word bank.

[ericspanner]

I think 中文 is also acceptable, especially outside mainland China and putonghua courses.

[Myles792076]

Yes and actually I believe 中文 is better here, as 汉语 is more used in formal writings.

[Zuarrie]

Better yet 普通话/Pǔtōnghuà (because "Chinese" is actually a group of related languages, like the Romance languages in Europe, and not a single language - linguists call the language family "Sinitic" - the language you're learning is Mandarin)

[Xahnas]

Yes this should be accepted, report it

[DarrenParn]

Seems the word "Chinese" could be taken either as a language or as an ethnicity.

[TellTheSeal]

Good observation: in the English sentence, "Is this your Chinese teacher?" the word "Chinese" could refer either to nationality or to language, that is, either to a teacher (of any subject) who is Chinese, or to a teacher (of any nationality) who teaches the Chinese language.

However, this Chinese sentence, 这是你的汉语老师吗, does not share that ambiguity, as 汉语 refers to the Chinese language only, rather than to the nation; the 语 part indicates "language."

[Eanorel2]

The question is wrong. In Chinese it is "这是你的中文老师吗" implying that you ask about a Chinese teacher.
If you want to ask about a teacher who teaches Chinese you should ask "Is this your teacher of Chinese?"

[JarlGeorge]

Making your own rules?
How about creating your own language

[CWKCA]

I translated from English to "這是你的中文的老師嗎". Is this correct?

[Cecil164832]

I don't know if it is "wrong," but it sounds funny. There is no need for 的 here. Also, you are using the old style of writing, which is used in Taiwan, but not Mainland China.

On reflection, the original answer (by Duolingo) is a bit rude. Shouldn't it be　他是你的中文老师吗？A person is not an it.

[BriaunnaYo]

Yeah ive heard from native speakers saying 这 (it) when referring to people is super rude... like 这是谁 when talking about a person isthe equivalent of saying "who the hell is this??"

[BarbyKrust]

I was also a bit suprised that they used ZHE here

[JarlGeorge]

Zhe is used in some Chinese textbooks.
It is just you who and the prejudice that you have that makes zhe rude.

[Zuarrie]

I know you have 2 crowns in Japanese and 4 in Russian, and therefore are somewhat used to languages that are highly declined, but PLEASE don't put the genitive marker places that it doesn't have to go. Mandarin is AGGLUTINATIVE. That means you don't have to stick 的/の/-ος/-ы everywhere if it's obvious that two words should stick together as one unit.

[NicoleHUAN20]

i know its so anoyying

[ElsieBarry]

I am confused on when we would use 这个 vs. 这 as in this case.

[cuscoothriyas]

Was taking this to refresh my chinese after not speaking it for years. We tend to say 华文 instead of 汉语 here in Singapore

[Cecil164832]

This depends on the country. In Singapore, it is huayu. In New Zealand, the Mainlanders use Guoyu (literally language of my country).

[ElliottXia]

When referring to a school subject, we tend to use 语文 instead of 汉语。Though it's a bit complicated. Basically 语文 covers both language, literature, historical, and political education, with an early focus on language that morphs into literature as children progress through the school system, with a healthy dose of nationalist history and politics sprinkled in at all ages.

So I guess if you hear it from a Chinese person talking about a course he/she took in China, it's 语文。If it's about a language course for L2 speakers, though, it probably means 中文/汉语/华语/普通话。

[Robbadob]

。语文：yǔ wén
。中文：zhōng wén
。汉语：hàn yǔ
。华语：huá yǔ
普通话：pǔ tōng huá (Mandarin)

[Giorgio182480]

Shouldn't the last be "huà"?

[abcdefghdumbo]

you have to add the 吗 in questions no matter what, correct? i'm kind of assuming that without it, it'd sound like a doubtful/shock thing if it still was spoken with a question tone (this essentially becoming "THIS is your chinese teacher?")

[abcdefghdumbo]

well later we learn (verb)不(verb) for yes/no questions... and there's too much tonage for "asking in a question way" to seem possible ... so just take this as a heads up ig :p

[Sue950221]

Hello, please not there is no audio for “吗”。

[Donard6]

Is there not an ambiguity in the English that is not present in the Chinese? English does not distinguish whether the teacher is Chinese or is a teacher of Chinese.

[Evan173603]

Does "这个是不是汉语老师" not work?

[Martin491530]

I put in the correct answer and the response was that it was wrong.
Strange!