italki - Answering Brazilians, why you'd better not use YES, NO - Challenge one text every day Brazilians hav

Jefferson

Answering Brazilians, why you'd better not use YES, NO - Challenge one text every day Brazilians have a quite strange habit of saying neither “yes” nor “no” for answering questions. So, if you ask Brazilians to go to a party, for example, they will not give the short answer “no”. That’s would be considerate impolite. You must give an explanation, it doesn’t even have to be sophisticated, just a small phrase such as “I’m sorry, I don’t fancy going out at today” would save you from being taken as a rude person. Furthermore an invitation, giving opinions and occasions when something is offered also is good being careful. It is common to share food in Brazil, many bars and restaurants have portions of food meant to be shared. Then, when Brazilians offer food they expect that you may accept if you want. Otherwise, in other cultures that might be different and offering food is just politesse and not accepting it is normal. The point is, you don’t have to eat everything Brazilians offer you, but you’d better not just answer “no”, please do a longer statement, for example, “No, I’m not hungry”. Have you been to Brazil? Do you agree with my text? Text 003/365. A friend ( Luiza Zerlotini) and I are going to write one text per day for one year! Please help us with corrections, suggestions, ideas. =D You can read an interesting notebook she has writen about Brazilian Carnival at this link http://www.italki.com/entry/526261.

Feb 27, 2015 10:52 PM

Corrections · 2

A strange thing to me is when people answer "thank you" when are offer something. For me, "Thank you" don't answer if you accepted the thing or not. hahaha...

March 1, 2015

Answering Brazilians, why you'd better not use YES, NO - Challenge one text every day

Brazilians have a quite strange habit of saying neither “yes” nor “no” for answering questions <em>(this is grammatically correct but it sounds strange to me, I would say: ...of avoiding yes-or-no answers)</em>.
So, if you ask Brazilians to go to a party, for example, they will not give the short answer “no”. That’s would be considered impolite. You must give an explanation, it doesn’t even have to be complicated/detailed, just a small phrase such as “I’m sorry, I don’t fancy going out at today” would save you from being taken as a rude person.

Furthermore, when you are asked your opinion or offered something, it's also good to be careful. It is common to share food in Brazil, many bars and restaurants have portions of food meant to be shared.
Then, when Brazilians offer food they expect that you may accept if you want. Otherwise, in other cultures that might be different, and offering food is just politeness and not accepting it is normal. The point is, you don’t have to eat everything Brazilians offer you, but you’d better not just answer “no”, please do a longer statement, for example, “No, I’m not hungry”.

Have you been to Brazil? Do you agree with my text?

Text 003/365.
A friend ( Luiza Zerlotini) and I are going to write one text per day for one year! Please help us with corrections, suggestions, ideas. =D
You can read an interesting notebook she has writen about Brazilian Carnival at this link http://www.italki.com/entry/526261.