Seems like there are 2 correct answers

Question

7"Qu'est-ce que c'est ?" meansI keep getting this wrong because I choose the wrong answer "What is it that it is" because in the lesson for "What is it" it offers "Literally "what is it that it is?", it is pronounced [kess kuh say]."but the correct answer according to the test is "What is it".Why is the literal meaning not correct?  If I had my way the literal answer wouldn't be listed.

Accepted Answer

Bonjour à tous,
At Kwiziq, when we use "literal", we mean a word per word translation - which does NOT mean "idiomatic". However, we agreed that the test question could be ambiguous so we've amended it.
I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !

Answer

Salut Christopher,I had a little smile to myself  --  not to ridicule your point, but to reflect on my thoughts years ago on this very issue.The point is the term "literal".  For an English speaker's way of understanding the French; all sorts of little "tricks" may be used that are unique to the English speaker but I would say irrelevant to the French teacher's lesson.I suspect this is why you are not able to get your point acted upon. Maybe you just have to "go with the flow" and use whatever language tool you find helpful to your understanding but not expect any action from the lesson constructors in this regard.Just my way of offering some sympathetic support be it useful or not.Bonne journéeJim

Answer

Christopher,

I agree and also would not use the description ‘literally’ here as the term can have multiple meanings, as per Collins, and is confusing the issue.

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/literally

If wanting to explain it at all, better in my view to specifically say ‘direct’ or ‘word for word’ translation, and point out that such direct translation from French to English is not ‘correct’ because it is not a natural sentence in modern English (at least, it’s not standard in my part of the English speaking world, and I assume that if it is not considered ‘correct’ in the exercise, that is the case in England as well).

It seems more important to me for a French speaker learning English to know that the sentences used in French, do not translate directly to English, and a single, ‘simple’ phrase will suffice in English. That is not pertinent to this course however.

On the other hand for native English speakers, all that is really needed is to know that there are several French expressions in use that match ‘what is it/this/that etc ? ‘ and how to decide which of the expressions to use routinely, and which just to be aware of for the occasional encounter.

The lesson should be modified and simplified, I think.