知っているはずです is over complicated?


I would like to ask, **"How many kanji are you supposed to know?"** My best
guess was

> （漢字を）何字知っているはずですか。 I omitted 漢字 since it was in context

This was reviewed by a native Japanese speaker and I had it corrected to
何字知っていますか with the explanation that the previous "is over complicated".
However, I see no reason why the corrected sentence conveys the sense of
"supposed" that I intended.

Could someone please verify that the previous question does indeed sound over
complicated and perhaps provide a better way to ask that question (that
conveys expectation rather than fact)?




I feel 何字知っているはずですか? is unnatural. I feel a question form of はずだ like はずですか?
is unnatural, and the native Japanese speaker also would feel so. The reason
why I feel it is unnatural is because はずだ indicates speaker's guess with
conviction, so it would be unnatural to ask someone for it.

I think 何字知っているべきですか? and 何字知っていて当然ですか? are more natural.




The correction does not have the same meaning as the question in English, so I
think your friend misunderstood what you wanted to ask (which is another
reason to avoid `はず` here).

Even though `はず` can be translated as "supposed", it does not work well in
this case. It is used when you have [a reasonable expectation of
something](http://www.jekai.org/entries/aa/00/nn/aa00nn81.htm). E.g.:

[code]

    日本人は約2000字の漢字を知っているはずです。
    A Japanese is supposed to know around 2000 kanji.
    
[/code]

I think something with -べき would work better here. Also, a more specific
subject would make the question's purpose clearer, e.g.:

[code]

    新聞を読めるには、何字を知っておくべきですか。
    How many kanji one should learn to read newspapers?
    
[/code]

