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My favourite on the yes/no front though is the border between Greece and Bulgaria where "Ne" (Не) means no in Bulgarian and, IIUC, yes in Greek. And then the B

My favourite on the yes/no front though is the border between Greece and Bulgaria where "Ne" (Не) means no in Bulgarian and, IIUC, yes in Greek. And then the Bulgarians also have approximately reversed vs Western Europe head movements for yes and no, to maximise confusion :)

pessimizer 9y ago
> And then the Bulgarians also have approximately reversed vs Western Europe head movements for yes and no, to maximise confusion :) This is strangely the most shocking fact that I know. It's one of those facts that remind you that just because something is universal doesn't mean that it's not cultural.
- loggedinmyphone 9y ago
  Shaking one's head for "no" is far from universal - it means "yes" in parts of India as well.
  - apendleton 9y ago
    India also has its own head motion that, for lack of better way of explaining it, is in aircraft terms a roll as compared to our pitch for yes and yaw for no. (Or maybe that's what you're talking about?). It doesn't mean "yes" exactly from what I've been able to gather, but more like "uh-huh" might be used as marker of paying attention in a running conversation. Like "I hear you, please continue" without explicitly agreeing or disagreeing.
    - loggedinmyphone 9y ago
      That's probably a better description. At first blush it looks like something you might interpret as skepticism - rocking the head side to side as if to say "That's not quite right." It took me a while to figure out it indicates a positive response to a question like "Does this bus go downtown?" rather than a negative one.
labster 9y ago
Japanese has the native いえ 'ie' for no, but they also occasionally use the English loanword イエス iesu for yes. I haven't spent much time with Japanese native speakers, but that must have confused someone.
- glandium 9y ago
  no is いいえ (iie) in japanese, so the i is longer than in yes.
- garfieldnate 9y ago
  I was confused for a long time by the "un" (yes) and "uun" (no) in my beginner's Japanese textbook. It turned out that the spelling was more or less conventional (could have been "n" and "nnn") and that it was really the intonation that made the word (falling and dipping). IIRC this simple nasal yes/no is used in several Asian countries.
EB-Barrington 9y ago
Albanians (like Bulgaria, Albania shares a border with Greece) also nod up and down for no, and turn their heads left-to-right for yes. As in Bulgaria, this is not universal throughout the populace - making it all the more confusing when you come across it during conversation. Related: in Albanian, yes is "po", no is "jo".
- Vinnl 9y ago
  It's even worse that some of them compensate when you're a tourist, nodding for yes and shaking their heads for no. But you can't know whether they're doing that.
  - techolic 9y ago
    For some reason I'm thinking game theory now.
- YeGoblynQueenne 9y ago
  French people also nod upwards to say "no". This is just one swift nod, not an up-and-down nod, and it's usually accompanied by a quick drawn-in breath. I've never seen that anywhere else. My friends who did that were Occitan btw. so maybe it's not all of France.
  - pjmlp 9y ago
    But in Greece a short nod up with some lip pressure is also no, right? At least that is what I am used to from my Greek friends.
    - YeGoblynQueenne 9y ago
      Yep. I found the French upward nod very confusing the first few times I saw it.
  - mrolla 9y ago
    In Italy, nodding upwards is a very passive aggressive and rude way of saying “no”. It’s accompanied with a quick lip smack rather than a drawn-in breath though.
YeGoblynQueenne 9y ago
I'm Greek and indeed "nai" means yes in Greek. But I thought "ne" means "no" in Serbian, not Bulgarian. It's probably both.
hk__2 9y ago
In Slovakia the word for “yes” is “ano” but people shorten it to “’no”, which makes things very confusing when you get there :)
- FreeFull 9y ago
  Polish has also borrowed "ano"/"no" from Czech/Slovakian, although the normal Polish word for "yes" is "tak"
malkia 9y ago
As a bulgarian, living in the US for the last 19 years, I can't say right now which head movement was yes, or no. I think I use both ways, choosing one over the other subconsciously - but can't tell how consistently, and why would I chose one vs the other... Maybe I need some deep reflection and introspection... things that any software engineer would love to have.... in their... language?

pessimizer 9y ago

> And then the Bulgarians also have approximately reversed vs Western Europe head movements for yes and no, to maximise confusion :) This is strangely the most shocking fact that I know. It's one of those facts that remind you that just because something is universal doesn't mean that it's not cultural.

loggedinmyphone 9y ago
Shaking one's head for "no" is far from universal - it means "yes" in parts of India as well.
- apendleton 9y ago
  India also has its own head motion that, for lack of better way of explaining it, is in aircraft terms a roll as compared to our pitch for yes and yaw for no. (Or maybe that's what you're talking about?). It doesn't mean "yes" exactly from what I've been able to gather, but more like "uh-huh" might be used as marker of paying attention in a running conversation. Like "I hear you, please continue" without explicitly agreeing or disagreeing.
  - loggedinmyphone 9y ago
    That's probably a better description. At first blush it looks like something you might interpret as skepticism - rocking the head side to side as if to say "That's not quite right." It took me a while to figure out it indicates a positive response to a question like "Does this bus go downtown?" rather than a negative one.

labster 9y ago

Japanese has the native いえ 'ie' for no, but they also occasionally use the English loanword イエス iesu for yes. I haven't spent much time with Japanese native speakers, but that must have confused someone.

glandium 9y ago
no is いいえ (iie) in japanese, so the i is longer than in yes.
garfieldnate 9y ago
I was confused for a long time by the "un" (yes) and "uun" (no) in my beginner's Japanese textbook. It turned out that the spelling was more or less conventional (could have been "n" and "nnn") and that it was really the intonation that made the word (falling and dipping). IIRC this simple nasal yes/no is used in several Asian countries.

EB-Barrington 9y ago

Albanians (like Bulgaria, Albania shares a border with Greece) also nod up and down for no, and turn their heads left-to-right for yes. As in Bulgaria, this is not universal throughout the populace - making it all the more confusing when you come across it during conversation. Related: in Albanian, yes is "po", no is "jo".

Vinnl 9y ago
It's even worse that some of them compensate when you're a tourist, nodding for yes and shaking their heads for no. But you can't know whether they're doing that.
- techolic 9y ago
  For some reason I'm thinking game theory now.
YeGoblynQueenne 9y ago
French people also nod upwards to say "no". This is just one swift nod, not an up-and-down nod, and it's usually accompanied by a quick drawn-in breath. I've never seen that anywhere else. My friends who did that were Occitan btw. so maybe it's not all of France.
- pjmlp 9y ago
  But in Greece a short nod up with some lip pressure is also no, right? At least that is what I am used to from my Greek friends.
  - YeGoblynQueenne 9y ago
    Yep. I found the French upward nod very confusing the first few times I saw it.
- mrolla 9y ago
  In Italy, nodding upwards is a very passive aggressive and rude way of saying “no”. It’s accompanied with a quick lip smack rather than a drawn-in breath though.

YeGoblynQueenne 9y ago

I'm Greek and indeed "nai" means yes in Greek. But I thought "ne" means "no" in Serbian, not Bulgarian. It's probably both.

hk__2 9y ago

In Slovakia the word for “yes” is “ano” but people shorten it to “’no”, which makes things very confusing when you get there :)

FreeFull 9y ago
Polish has also borrowed "ano"/"no" from Czech/Slovakian, although the normal Polish word for "yes" is "tak"

malkia 9y ago

As a bulgarian, living in the US for the last 19 years, I can't say right now which head movement was yes, or no. I think I use both ways, choosing one over the other subconsciously - but can't tell how consistently, and why would I chose one vs the other... Maybe I need some deep reflection and introspection... things that any software engineer would love to have.... in their... language?