maybe it’s another Duolingo bullshit they push upon us or maybe a typical thing in Japanese? namely in phrases like
けんさんは二年生ですか it could mean both “Is Ken a second year student?” and (according to duolingo) “are you a second year studentsophomore, Ken?” how do i know if it’s directly addressing the person? which is which?
It’s a pretty normal thing in Japanese, yes. You’d know from context which meaning it is based on who you’re talking to.