Saying No to No
An interesting feature of the Chinese language, and indeed of many other Asian languages, is that there are no words that translate directly to the English 'yes' and 'no'. This doesn’t mean that it’s not possible to say 'yes' or 'no' – for example, in answer to questions, an affirmative is given by repeating the verb, a negative by repeating the verb along with the word for 'not'. It’s a bit of a chicken or the egg question whether the language quirk or the cultural quirk came first, but regardless it is true that Chinese people are extremely reluctant to say no.
Part of the reason for this has to do with face. At the risk of over-simplifying, admitting that you don’t know something may cause you to lose face
Of course things are sometimes more complicated than that. Another reason Chinese people don’t like to say no is because they don’t want to appear unhelpful. If a shoe or clothing shop doesn’t have your size it’s not uncommon for the clerk to say, 'just a moment,' when she doesn’t have your size, run out of the shop, and ask her neighbors if they have your size. Then, if none of them have your size, she will come back with the closest available and offer it to you, often with the assurance that it will stretch or shrink as needed. Westerners may find this behavior frustrating, but just keep in mind that the clerk is trying her best to be as helpful as possible.
Where you may run into even more difficulty is trying to make plans with Chinese friends or other such situations. A Chinese person may say 'maybe' or change the subject to mean 'no.' A good rule of thumb is that if you don’t get a very specific agreement, it’s entirely possible that your plans aren’t as concrete as you thought they were.
