[sumo] [OT] Name Spelling/Pronunciation

[Joshua Maciel]

And 'yes' and 'no' in English most certainly do not mean 'yes' and 'no' in
the English sense.

When we say 'no way!' as an Americanism, it can really mean, "really?!"

Shocking, I know.

And when a coworker is kissing the boss' arse something fierce and we say
"yes man" it's most certainly not because we agree with his proposal.

My point is that no language is as simple as words having a single
connotation. Depending on context and intonation, a word can mean it's
opposite.

For all intents and purposes, 'yes' and 'hai' are interchangeable with 'no'
and 'iie' as far as meaning is concerned. In social context, however, they
don't communicate what they mean, not because of meaning, but because that's
just how the culture works.

Don't worry too much about the nuance. If you want to learn the language,
then go ahead, and until you're several years in (or interacting with
Japanese people in Japanese regularly), you'll be able to use 'yes' and
'hai' interchangeably, along with their opposites.

However, beware -- if you learn Japanese you might start typing Japanese
words in English funny.

- Josh

On Nov 21, 2007 12:15 PM, Barbara <barbara at technogirls.org> wrote:

>
>
> Doreen Simmons wrote:
> > This really had me guessing at first -- since there isn't a Japanese
> > word for 'no' -- any more than there is a word for 'yes.' What it does
> > have is a word 'iie' which is sometimes used where we would use 'no' --
> > but often has other implications, as Joe has noticed. In response to an
> > invitation, for instance, it can mean 'not likely' or 'in your dreams,
> > pal.' Likewise the word 'hai' can lead to great confusion if we use it
> > as 'yes'. This works in reverse, of course.  If a Japanese person asks
>
>
> But still ... "iie" and "hai" function as no and yes, in proper
> contexts.  That is, they are taken to mean no and yes.  Then there are
> more unambiguous ways, like saying "Sono tori" or "Makoto desu" for yes.
> In English "yes" has no shades of meaning when spoken alone.  But you
> can add doubt by saying "yes but...". Both languages have wide ranges of
> affirmation or negation, I think, but different ways of expressing those
> ranges.  The problem is an artifact of trying to do word-for-word
> translation of something which is better translated sentence-for-sentence.
>
> Whats fun is you can ask a question in the two languages which one
> affirms with "yes" in one case and "no" in the other.  Do you disagree?
> :-)
>
> Barbara Murasakihana
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