German people have a reputation for directness. They have a word for yes, ja, and no, nein. The English on the other hand have a word for yes ‘yes’ while their no is often ‘yes but’. A British negative is almost always detectable in their body language, but less so in their actual words : ’Oh yes, I do like it, but …’
A German will more than likely say: ‘No, I do not like it.’ Some British find that a bit abrupt, but then Germans are equally perplexed by British people failing to get to the point. They simply do not share the British habit of calling a spade an instrument with a metal plate and T-shaped wooden handle used for digging. Even the niceties are dispensed with. Begin a meeting with a reference to the weather—absolutely standard in the UK—and your German colleague may wonder if he’s talking to a meteorologist.
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