どなた

[Maybo]

1. どなたは日本語の先生ですか。
2. 日本語の先生はどなたですか。

Do both sentences mean "who is Japanese language teacher"?

 

[SomeCallMeChris]

No. 1 is ungrammatical, 2 means "Who is the Japanese (language) teacher?"


It should be covered in any basic Japanese text when the topic particle is introduced, but in any case it is stated in "A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar" entry for wa(1):

It is noted that wa never marks WH-words such as nani 'what' and dare 'who'.

WH-words refers to the English question words: who, what, where, why, when, how ; the Japanese equivalents are だれ・どなた、なに、なぜ・どうして、いつ、どう、and any synonyms that I may be forgetting.