PART 7 (Genre: Language)
– Yes or No? –
I’ve been speaking English as my second language for a long time, but I never get used to the English way of replying to Yes-No questions:
“Oops, I was supposed to say Yes but not No……”
Why do I never get used to replying to Yes-No questions? Because the English way to use Yes and No is very different from the way of Japanese, my first language. In these two languages, Yes and No can be used as the OPPOSITE meaning depending on the case because of the difference:
English
– Use Yes or No to assert that our idea is Positive or Negative.
Japanese
– Use Yes or No to confirm whether what a questioner verbalizes is Correct or Incorrect.
This difference causes the OPPOSITE meaning when we are asked a NEGATIVE QUESTION.
Imagine a situation that you are hanging out with one of your friends in a hamburger restaurant… At some point you notice that he removes the sliced pickle from the burger and eats the burger. You might wonder why and ask him:
“You don’t like pickles?”
Yes or No… How is he supposed to reply?:
English
– No, I don’t like pickles.
Japanese
– Yes, I don’t like pickles.
(You are correct, I don’t like pickles.)
In English, how he is asked a question doesn’t matter, he is supposed to reply No while shaking his head to assert that he has a Negative idea: “I don’t like pickles.” But in Japanese, he is supposed to reply Yes while nodding to acknowledge the Truth of what the questioner verbalizes: “You don’t like pickles.” The OPPOSITE responses show the same fact that he doesn’t like pickles.
The English way of replying isn’t affected by an influence of a questioner, but the Japanese way of replying is affected; the Japanese meaning of Yes and No is reversed depending on asking a question in a Positive or Negative form. As a result, Yes and No are used as the OPPOSITE meaning when we are asked a NEGATIVE QUESTION.
In my Japanese view, the English way of replying makes me wonder why the meaning of Yes and No doesn’t change even if how it’s asked changes. It seems like English speakers ignore each other and just assert their opinions… But how can that be if they have a conversation together? This is the point I never get used to no matter how long I communicate with English speakers.
In English, people regard their self-opinion as important; the state that their self-opinion is Positive or Negative is what matters. But in Japanese, people don’t care what their self-opinion is; the point they focus on is whether they Agree or Disagree with the conversation partner……
Isn’t it such an interesting difference?
– END –
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