월드미션프론티어

English and Korean are different languages in many ways. One significant way regards how native speakers respond to negative questions. For example, if I asked you in English "You don't have any bananas, do you?". In English you might respond "No, we don't have any bananas." A native speaker would never say "Yes, we have no bananas", because the word "yes" is always followed by a positive statement and the word "no" is always be followed by a negative statement. That's why "Yes, we have no bananas" is the title of a funny song. The words just sound comical to American ears.

But in Korean, the words translate just fine. If I asked you in Korean, "You don't have any bananas, do you?". You might respond, "Yes, we have no bananas". In Korean, as in most languages, speakers follow the logic of the negative question. Logic rules over consistency. English is one of the few languages where consistency over-rules logic.

This subtle difference in language can lead to great miscommunication, even when two people are speaking in the same language. This occurs because how one responds to a negative question is not so much a matter of vocabulary, but of logic. For example, a young American man might say in English "You will never marry me, will you?" A young Korean lady might respond in English "yes". What does she mean? He thinks she means "Yes, I will marry you." But what she intends is "Yes, I will never marry you." There is a world of difference. One solution to this language/logic problem is to never answer a negative question with a simple yes or no, especially if you are speaking to someone from a different language background. To the question "You will never marry me, will you?" Our Korean lady could avoid all ambiguity by saying either "Yes, I will never marry" or "No, I will never marry you". His heart will be broken with either answer.

So, everyone reading my words can agree on this simple question "IS THIS NOT A GREAT COLUMN? !!" The answer is a not-so-simple "YES!"