Grex Language Conference

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Grex Language Item 26: Answers to Yes-or-No questions
Entered by jdg on Wed Oct 30 03:20:47 UTC 1991:

Hai usually means 'what you just said is right.'  In answer to affirmative
questions, it corresponds to English 'yes,' but in answer to negative
questions that anticipate a negative answer, it usually confirms the negative
and corresponds to English 'no.'  Iie, the opposite of hai, means 'what you
just said is wrong' and behaves in a parallel way:  in answer to affirmative
questions it corresponds to English 'no,' but in answer to negative
questions that anticipate a negative answer, it usually contraticts the
negative and corresponds to English 'yes.'
...
WARNING: English usage is as unexpected for a Japanese studying English as
Japanese usage is for an American studying Japanese.  Be wary of single-
word answers given by a Japanese who is not yet fluent in English.  In answer
to "Don't you have any bananas?" a "Yes" from many Japanese means "Yes,
we have no bananas."
 
     Eleanor Harz Jorden
     Hamako Ito Chaplin
 
     "Beginning Japanese - Part 1" page 10.  ISBN 0-300-00135-5
      Yale University Press, 1963.

3 responses total.

#1 of 3 by griz on Wed Oct 30 14:13:03 1991:

Very interesting.  In German, "ja" means "yes" in answer to an affirmative
question like:  "You're planning to go to the store, right?" while "doch"
means "yes" in answer to a negative question like:  "You're not planning
to go to the store, are you?".  

On the other hand "Hai", the Japanese word for "yes", means "shark" in
German.  :-)

#2 of 3 by mdw on Thu Oct 31 08:02:45 1991:

The "english" interpretation of "yes" and "no" ansewrs to negative
questions never made any sense to me.  Far as I'm concerned, the
Japanese got it right and we blew it.  It's never stopped me from asking
negative questions, but it does leave me totally confused when I get a
1 word answer.  The german solution has at least the advantage of being
partially unambigious.  Only real solution I know though is to say "yes, we
have no bananas", and let the listener beware.

#3 of 3 by davel on Sat Sep 5 18:53:22 1992:

I'm with Marcus.  My own reflex in answering and interpreting is just
backward, by the common American English standard, so much so that I try
to avoid negative questions to some extent - & almost NEVER give a simple
yes/no answer to them.  (Some people may suspect I'm just long-winded,
though.)

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