股沟来的标准答案， 也问过孩子答案同：what is the difference between what are you a

Who are you?

This is typically asking for your name, but a particular context could indicate a different meaning.

What are you?

This question is very informal and bit odd. It is a very terse question which implies some understood context.

• If you're in a business meeting it could be your role - e.g. "I'm the accountant"

• If you discussing two sports teams it could mean "Which team are you a fan of?"

• If you're in a group that has been discussing the nationality of different folks in the group then the question would be asking for your nationality.

• If your in a group of college students discussing what year of college you're in then the answer might be "I'm a freshman" or "I'm a sophomore."

So in general I'd say that the question is looking for a label for some kind of subgroup to which you belong.

 

Robert Charles Lee, 35+ years in editorial & publishing, British speaker, work in American English
Answered Apr 10, 2015:

There are several ways of answering this, and the other answers have covered this very well. Assuming you're Chinese, I could do no better than to recycle my grandpa's words on this matter from many decades ago:
你是誰，誰是你，你是什麼人或物體？
You are who, who are you, what kind of person or thing are you?

Thanks for the A2A. You know who you are, and what you are.