nita's 日本語 ver. 2008

Wow, it's been almost two years since my last post here. Since then, I've actually started going to Japanese school here in Okayama. After a couple months at the school last year, I took the JLPT Level 2 exam and passed, so this year I'm going for Level 1 (the levels go backwards, so Level 1 is the highest level. I guess that way, you don't have to worry about trying to figure out how many levels are left...?)

Anyway, some of the articles we've read in class have been pretty interesting lately, and we get quite a few practice questions for the reading comprehension section of the EJU. Here's one from today dealing with the differences in yes or no questions in Japanese and English:

　「はい」を "Yes" と同じ意味の言葉とみなしている外国人は、否定疑問文に対する返答としての「はい」に戸惑うことがあるのではないだろうか。
　「明日のパーティーに出席しないんですか」「はい、出席しません。」
　このやりとりでは、英語では "No" となるところを、「はい」と答えているからだる。
　日本語の「はい」の、こうした用例は何を表しているのだろうか。英語の "Yes" が自分の返事の内容が肯定文であることを表しているのに対して、日本語の「はい」は質問者である相手の質問内容を肯定することを表しているのである。だから、上の例のように、相手が「出席しないこと」について質問しているときは、「はい」とその内容を肯定した上で、「出席しません」と確認することになる。
　したがって、形式的には否定疑問文であっても、その意味が勧誘であるような場合には、「はい」の後に肯定形がくることになる。
　「明日のパーティーにいっしょに出席しませんか？」「はい、そうします。」

For foreigners [in Japan] who know that "hai" means "yes" in Japanese, it's often confusing when the answer to a negative question is "hai."

"Will you not attend the party tomorrow?" "Yes, I will not go."

Like in this example, where in English, the answer would be "no," it's instead answered with "hai."

What does the Japanese "hai" represent in an example like this? The English "yes" is representing a positive answer on the part of the answerer, while the Japanese "hai" represents agreement with the contents of the question. Therefore, like in the above example, in response to the questioner asking about "not attending the party," the answer, "hai," agrees with the content "not attending" and confirms that that is in fact the case.

In the same way, even if the question itself is negative, if it is negative in a way that is trying to persuade [as is often used to invite someone to do something in Japanese], the "hai" is followed by a positive response.

"Won't you attend the party tomorrow?" "Yes, I will."

This is confusing in either language, but it deals with something inherent in both languages that confuses foreign learners of both languages. After living in Japan for a while, when I went back to visit my family in L.A. for the holidays last year, my sister caught me answering the Japanese way. Even after being able to do that, though, I didn't get a chance to read this question carefully enough in class to answer it correctly. Which I know now that I've had time to read it through slower...