Yes and No

Here’s another confusing aspect to Chinese and English translation, the asking of negative questions.  For example, suppose I asked someone, “You don’t like pizza?” In English the response would be, “No, I don’t like it.” The “no,” as a negative, reaffirms the negative “don’t” in the question.  However, the way the Chinese would answer this is, “Yes, I don’t like it.” The positive “yes” acting as an affirmation of the negative “don’t,” confirming the original contention in the question.

“You don’t like pizza?”
“Yes, I don’t like pizza.”

Or, maybe a more accurate way to say it would be, “Correct, I don’t like pizza.”