Yes, I don't (or the confusion of languages)
By Denise
@petatonicsca (7070)
Japan
February 29, 2016 11:10pm CST
In English, if someone says, "Do you have a pen?" you would answer, "No, I don't."
In Japanese, if you say, "Didn't you bring your book?" you would answer, "No, I did."
Often our bilingual and trilingual kids will answer questions with "Yes" or "No" and I always make them finish the sentence because the answer will be the opposite if they were translating from their native language!
Do you have any interesting quirks or know of any in languages that you use?
5 people like this
4 responses
@TiarasOceanView (70020)
• United States
1 Mar 16
Believe it or not Denise, I have trouble being understood though I speak the same language here in this country.
I was raised by two immigrants and the accents, brogue also, are hard to understand for Americans and the many different terms we use seem foreign here. Same English language, different culture.
@petatonicsca (7070)
• Japan
1 Mar 16
I believe it! We have New Zealanders, Australians, Americans, Canadians, Indians and various Africans who were all raised or educated in English at our school, and sometimes we have trouble understanding each other, but not usually, because we are used to it.
1 person likes this
@TiarasOceanView (70020)
• United States
1 Mar 16
@petatonicsca Yes if one but can take the time to listen and learn, a lot of us could be heard. Good to know you understand what I mean my friend. All the best to you friend.
I would like to know if I answer "No, I did.", did I bring the pen or not? In this aspect Chinese is simple, you just need to answer yes or no and no more.
@JudyEv (382412)
• Rockingham, Australia
1 Mar 16
That is a bit different! If I heard it in Japanese and tried to translate it to English I wouldn't know what to think!
