From Twitter
お選び下さい Toshi's looking at a new electronic device at Big Camera. The only available clerk is Chinese; he doesn't speak Japanese well.
Toshi must speak English. He should ask:
a. This is what?
b. What is this?
c. This what is?
d. What this is?
Clerk: It's a router.
#英会話
日本語訳
Twitterより。トシはビックカメラで新しい電子機器を見ています。店員とうまく日本語で話せないので、英語で「これは何ですか」と尋ねます。選択肢のうち、普通の会話にふさわしい言い方はどれでしょう。店員は「ルーターです」と答えます。
Answer:
The best answer is: b. 'What is this'; a. is okay, but is used in particular frames of minds and circumstances, not in common speech.
Explanation:
English is curious in this way, because the 'what' (the thing) is at the beginning in a question instead of the 'this' (as it is in the answer), and switches to the other side of the linking verb in the answer. This is different from Korean and Japanese, wherein the subject, whether it is known ('a router') or unknown ('what') stands in the same place in the sentence, whether it be the question or in the answer.
解答・解説の日本語訳
正解は b. What is this?。a. This is what? も、驚きなど特別な状況では使えますが、一般的な質問には向きません。英語の疑問文では、尋ねたいものを表す what が先頭に来て、答えでは this が主語として置かれます。日本語・韓国語とは語順の仕組みが異なります。