• Joncash2@lemmy.ml
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    8 months ago

    What the fuck are you talking about. 是 Is a direct translation for yes. And we absolutely would answer

    你喜欢冰淇淋吗 With 是的。

    Similarly we would absolutely answer in the negative to that question with 不。 Because 不 is absolutely a direct translation of no.

    To repeat 是 and 不 are direct translations of yes and no where you can drop them in replacement in English.

    • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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      8 months ago

      是 and 不 can be functionally understood to mean yes and no, but they’re certainly not direct translations and not correct answers to asking someone if they like something.

      If you ask in Chinese if somebody likes something, You’re going to get the answers"喜欢“ or "不喜欢“, not "是/不是“.

      You can get "是“ by asking about the concrete nature of whether something is or is not.

      "这是公园吗“?

      "是“ or "不是“

      A Chinese language speaker can use these two words to convey what an English speaker understands as “yes” or “no” that what you’re referring to is or is not a park. But they are not saying"yes" or “no”.

      They’re saying “it is” or "it isn’t“, which are different words with different semantics.

      • Joncash2@lemmy.ml
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        8 months ago

        What nonsense.

        Everything you said is true in English.

        If I ask do you like ice cream, a common answer is I like it. You can also say yes. Exactly the same as 喜欢, or 是的. Both are perfectly normal to say.

        You are trying to imply the second one is not normal. You are wrong.

        • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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          8 months ago

          Nope, those are discrete words and concepts, and It looks like you’re missing the point.

          The point here is that you’re not going to get the response you want by asking a question you’re used to because the affirmative word in English that is the answer to that question does not exist in Chinese languages.

          Yes means yes, 喜欢 means ”I like it",and 是的 means “it is”.

          Neither of those Chinese words are the direct equivalent of the English “yes”.

          Approximations? Functional phrases? Sure.

          Different words and concepts and language building blocks? Of course.

          And to keep you accountable, “I like it” is a very strange, inaccurate and extremely uncommon way to answer “do you like ice cream?” In English.

          • Joncash2@lemmy.ml
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            8 months ago

            I am fluent in both languages. It is in no way strange to say I like it. I have no idea where you are getting that concept. Hell McDonald’s had a whole campaign stating I’m loving it as an extreme version of I like it. Hell, a common response in English is I don’t like it, I love it. Which again is an extension of I like it.

            Your basic understanding of both languages is so ridiculously wrong I’m at a loss for words.

            *Edit. Which by the way became 我就喜欢, in the Chinese McDonald’s. So are you going to say Chinese doesn’t have the word for love?

            • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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              8 months ago

              Well, if you have an unrelated McDonald’s anecdote…

              Your grasp on either these languages or the main premise of the argument is sorely lacking.

              To humor you, if you truly believe that you can ask in English “do you like ice cream?” and expect to receive the answer " I like it", then we’ve determined which language you understand less.

              Then again, The Chinese noun and verb for love is "爱“, not the McDonald’s phrase you quoted, so maybe you don’t understand either language as well as you would like.

              But hey, you know McDonald’s lore, so there’s that.

              • Joncash2@lemmy.ml
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                8 months ago

                How do you know so little about language. It’s baffling. The whole point is in Chinese it would be odd to say I love it because love is reserved for living things. But that doesn’t mean the word love doesn’t exist in Chinese. That’s why the McDonald’s slogan was the way it was. And trust me, McDonald’s team knows much more about translation than you do.

                • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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                  8 months ago

                  You might want to go climb up to the top of this thread, that’s not what this thread is about at all.

                  My simple example one can easily extrapolate from is a response to a commenter claiming that sanctions won’t work against China because they are strict, but if the US treated China like a parent treats their child, manipulating and urging them onward with soft encouragement, the US could get that they wanted from China without the need for sanctions.

                  My point is that if even the word “yes” is not directly translatable in Chinese languages, and they have a couple tens of thousands of words, and China has an entire historical set of behaviors and culture separate from the US with unique calls and responses, it’s insulting and unreasonable to expect a desired response using manipulations that work differently in different cultures.

                  Separately, you haven’t demonstrated much capability in either language you’re theorizing about and as a result haven’t earned that trust.