I don't know a great deal about the local language here, other than what I can divine from the mistakes my students habitually make in their English; though, in fact, you can divine quite a lot from that.
For example, they don't seem to have 'question tags' - those little phrases like "doesn't it?" and "aren't you?" by which we prompt for an expected Yes or No answer. They seem to expect that all questions may be answered with a Yes or a No. And yet.... here's the amazing wrinkle, the mind-boggling bizarreness for which I still haven't fully worked out an explanation: they always answer Yes. Even if the question was framed in a negative way. Even if the answer is negative. The one-word answer to any question in English is YES.
Doubtless, there may be further subtle linguistic reasons behind this odd habit. But I don't think the quirks of the native language can be a full solution. After all, all languages are capable of expressing a negative answer. It's more of a cultural phenomenon, I think. Perhaps the local people are just terribly eager to please; they know that people are generally happier to hear a Yes answer than a No, so they try to tell people what they think they want to hear.
This impulse is further compounded, I fear, by the prevalent notion of 'losing face'. People here feel that their dignity is compromised, their status undermined if they admit that they can't do something, or that they don't know the answer to something.... so they'll always give you a positive answer, even if they haven't really got a clue what you're talking about; they'll always say the problem is being taken care of, when it's not; they always say they're going to do what you've asked them to, even though they actually have no intention of lifting a finger.
Many foreigners are tempted to characterize this as an inbred duplicity, a hopeless disregard for the truth - but it is a rather more subtle and complicated matter than that.
It is bloody annoying, though.
And it can be a trap for the unwary. The trick is to throw away your 'question-tags': don't set yourself up for the easy but so often misleading Yes. In fact, try to ask questions that are as open as possible, questions that elicit information ("What are the times of the flights to London tomorrow?" "What days do you have bands playing this week?"), rather than closed questions that require only a Yes/No. If you ask things like "So, I'm confirmed on the 9.30 flight tomorrow, am I?" or "My reservation has been brought forward to the 20th, right?", you're asking for trouble. You can absolutely guarantee that your interlocutor will smile broadly and say, "Yes, of course".... when the truth may be something quite other.
Ask only OPEN questions. Honestly - it's an essential survival tip out here.
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