"Yes, I mean, no."
As an ordinary Korean, I've seen many native English speakers talking with Koreans in English.
One day I found an interesting scene that occurs time to time in those English conversations between Korean and native English speakers (from now, let's call whom a 'native').
That's when a native asked a question.
Koreans including myself often answer below:
sort of
"Yes, mm, no."
"No, oh no, yes."
"Yes, I mean, no."
And then, the native asks again with a sadly-funny face, "So, what do you mean?"
Since I found that, I've concerned why. And, I succeeded to get my answer close to the truth.
Suppose a native asked "Isn't it?"
The native will expect one of those below:
"Yes, it is."
"No, it isn't."
The 'lost-in-translation' between Koreans and natives happens in the answer, 'No, it isn't.'
Because in Korean grammar, "Yes, it isn't." and "No, it is." are very natural according to the reason below.
Native's 'No' concerns the way it is--the fact, the situation, and the reality.
Natives say 'No.' for saying it is 'negative'.
However, 'No' in Korean actually means, "I don't agree with you." regardless of the situation.
On the other hand, 'Yes' in Korean means "I agree with you." This Korean is not saying about the situation's positiveness.
Based on my theory, "Yes, I mean, no." in Korean can be translated into, "I agree with you. I mean, no, it isn't."
To native English speakers in Korea.
When you face a Korean saying those types of answers, my theory will help you to understand them.
ex) isn't it? or aren't they?
Yes, I mean, no. -> I agree with 'YOUR NO'.
No, I mean, yes. -> I do NOT agree with 'YOUR NO'.
If somebody is interested with more information, I will talk more about it later:)
4 comments:
Good post. It's a difficult and crucial concept, one that I encounter every day with students and friends. It can be the source of much misunderstanding between people trying to communicate across the language barrier.
The basic idea to remember, which I believe you captured in your post, is that "YES" to a Korean means "That is correct" or "I agree." Likewise, "NO" means "That's wrong" or "I disagree."
What this indicates (and this is a wild assumption on my part) is that any question in Korean can be reduced to (Statement - Right?) In Korean, you answer the question by indicating whether or not you agree with what is in essence simply a declarative statement with a tag question on the end. Right?
The difference is that in English, "YES" or "NO" only pertains to the previous VERB (as well as any predicate complements it may have), and not to the entire clause as it seems to do in Korean.
So in English the answer to the question "Did you go to school today?" or "Didn't you go to school today?" is always the same. If you went, the answer is YES; if you didn't go, the answer is NO. As you explain in your post, "yes" means positive plus the previous verb.
Changing the question to be negative simply indicates the assumption or intent of the questioner, but never changes the answer. In English, an answer reports the truth value of the verb alone. Yes (went) = 갔어. No (didn't go) = 안 갔어. Simple as that. ^^
잘보고 갑니다. :)
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Oh caught in between. Maybe then.
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