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No, English is messed up :P I learned about some of this from learning Japanese where I had to learn you answer the question directly rather than confirm the n

No, English is messed up :P I learned about some of this from learning Japanese where I had to learn you answer the question directly rather than confirm the negative by repeating it. In Japanese: Q: You don't like cigars do you A: Yes (Yes I don't like cigars) In English Q: You don't like cigars do you A: No (it's effectively confirming the negative of "like") My Japanese friends learning English of course found English very confusing. I'd point out if you answer the question with more than just "Yes" or "No" it's almost always clear. A: Yes, I don't like cigars A: No, I don't like cigars Both have the same meaning, whereas just Yes or just No is ambiguous. Of course the article had examples of just yes or just no. To someone of the same language background they are probably unambigious

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notahacker 12y ago
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression native Japanese speakers tended to be averse to giving a direct "no" as an answer anyway. In which case "You're quite correct, I prefer not to smoke cigars" should work just as well as its closest Japanese equivalent.
emehrkay 12y ago
As I've gotten older, and more direct with my speech, I find myself just repeating the second part of the yes/no question as my answer. Maybe it has something to do with the programming that I've been doing or dealing with programmers.
ownagefool 12y ago
In reality, as someone who grew up talking like that, answering yes to such a question is really awkward and in no way the expected answer. I think this is cultural lingo though, as you should probably be asking 'do you like cigars', while the negative form of the question shows familiarity, is less formal and leads to a lot of unwritten rules.
kordless 12y ago
Your question is the part that is messed up. An ambiguous question leads to ambiguous answers, not the other way around. "Is it true you don't like cigars?" Yes, I don't like cigars. "Do you like cigars?" No, I don't like cigars. In either properly formed question, the answer will always be "no", if you really don't like cigars.
- freehunter 12y ago
  Unfortunately, the way sentences are constructed in English this is a common way to phrase a question. "Is it true you don't like cigars?" is a completely different question from "Do you like cigars?". The first question implies the asker has been given prior knowledge that they are looking to confirm. In some cases, the asker might already know with certainty that they don't like cigars, but they're looking to bring up the subject of cigars and that's their icebreaker. There's a lot of hidden information in that one short sentence. It's a poorly constructed question yes, but the straightforward alternative isn't always a good alternative because that poorly constructed question isn't actually a question, It's a statement dressed up like a question for the sake of subtlety. So in actuality, the responder shouldn't answer yes or no. That's not the correct response to a statement. If the subtlety is lost on the responder even momentarily, they may answer yes or no, in the same manner that when someone says "happy birthday", I might mistakenly answer the same thing back to them as if they had wished me a good afternoon. If someone says "Is it true you don't like cigars", the correct response is not "no", it's "that's correct".
mikeash 12y ago
I like the way Mandarin does this. There's no pure "yes" or "no," just a negation you can apply to a verb. The answers would be either "like" (yes, I like cigars) or "not like" (no, I don't like them).
- hirsin 12y ago
  Does this work for questions phrased in the negative? Ni bu hui shuo zhongwen ma? (You can't speak Chinese?) could be responded to with "bu hui", "hui", or "dui" I think. "Dui" (correct) would mean... Right, I cant? "Dui bu dui" is also an interesting departure for this...
  - pierrec 12y ago
    Yes, it also works for questions phrased in the negative, and 对/不对 (dui / bu dui) ("that's right"/"that's not right") does not make any sense as a response to that question, you need to use 会/不会 (hui/ bu hui) ("I can"/"I can't"). It's all very explicit compared to most languages. But another, perhaps more natural way of negatively phrasing the question would be "你不会说中文，是吗？" or "你不会说中文，对吗？" or even the odd formulation that you mention "你不会说中文，对不对？" (You don't speak Chinese, right?), in which case you could respond with 对/不对 ("that's right"/"that's not right").
    - pierrec 12y ago
      It's too late to edit, but I now realize that what I wrote is pretty confusing. Especially the part with "You don't speak Chinese, right?" which should be between quotes. It's the translation of the previous sentence, not something that I'm actually asking... And I should add that I don't speak Mandarin fluently, but I'm still confident about the above.
      - evincarofautumn 12y ago
        I studied Chinese in college for a few years. Everything you wrote is correct.

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notahacker 12y ago

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression native Japanese speakers tended to be averse to giving a direct "no" as an answer anyway. In which case "You're quite correct, I prefer not to smoke cigars" should work just as well as its closest Japanese equivalent.

emehrkay 12y ago

As I've gotten older, and more direct with my speech, I find myself just repeating the second part of the yes/no question as my answer. Maybe it has something to do with the programming that I've been doing or dealing with programmers.

ownagefool 12y ago

In reality, as someone who grew up talking like that, answering yes to such a question is really awkward and in no way the expected answer. I think this is cultural lingo though, as you should probably be asking 'do you like cigars', while the negative form of the question shows familiarity, is less formal and leads to a lot of unwritten rules.

kordless 12y ago

Your question is the part that is messed up. An ambiguous question leads to ambiguous answers, not the other way around. "Is it true you don't like cigars?" Yes, I don't like cigars. "Do you like cigars?" No, I don't like cigars. In either properly formed question, the answer will always be "no", if you really don't like cigars.

freehunter 12y ago
Unfortunately, the way sentences are constructed in English this is a common way to phrase a question. "Is it true you don't like cigars?" is a completely different question from "Do you like cigars?". The first question implies the asker has been given prior knowledge that they are looking to confirm. In some cases, the asker might already know with certainty that they don't like cigars, but they're looking to bring up the subject of cigars and that's their icebreaker. There's a lot of hidden information in that one short sentence. It's a poorly constructed question yes, but the straightforward alternative isn't always a good alternative because that poorly constructed question isn't actually a question, It's a statement dressed up like a question for the sake of subtlety. So in actuality, the responder shouldn't answer yes or no. That's not the correct response to a statement. If the subtlety is lost on the responder even momentarily, they may answer yes or no, in the same manner that when someone says "happy birthday", I might mistakenly answer the same thing back to them as if they had wished me a good afternoon. If someone says "Is it true you don't like cigars", the correct response is not "no", it's "that's correct".

mikeash 12y ago

I like the way Mandarin does this. There's no pure "yes" or "no," just a negation you can apply to a verb. The answers would be either "like" (yes, I like cigars) or "not like" (no, I don't like them).

hirsin 12y ago
Does this work for questions phrased in the negative? Ni bu hui shuo zhongwen ma? (You can't speak Chinese?) could be responded to with "bu hui", "hui", or "dui" I think. "Dui" (correct) would mean... Right, I cant? "Dui bu dui" is also an interesting departure for this...
- pierrec 12y ago
  Yes, it also works for questions phrased in the negative, and 对/不对 (dui / bu dui) ("that's right"/"that's not right") does not make any sense as a response to that question, you need to use 会/不会 (hui/ bu hui) ("I can"/"I can't"). It's all very explicit compared to most languages. But another, perhaps more natural way of negatively phrasing the question would be "你不会说中文，是吗？" or "你不会说中文，对吗？" or even the odd formulation that you mention "你不会说中文，对不对？" (You don't speak Chinese, right?), in which case you could respond with 对/不对 ("that's right"/"that's not right").
  - pierrec 12y ago
    It's too late to edit, but I now realize that what I wrote is pretty confusing. Especially the part with "You don't speak Chinese, right?" which should be between quotes. It's the translation of the previous sentence, not something that I'm actually asking... And I should add that I don't speak Mandarin fluently, but I'm still confident about the above.
    - evincarofautumn 12y ago
      I studied Chinese in college for a few years. Everything you wrote is correct.