I hope the negotiations don’t run into language difficulties. It’s said that Japanese has a way of saying yes that means “yes I hear” not “yes I agree” which has caused naive negotiators to make missteps. I hope the North Korean translator understands similar nuances.
“It’s said that Japanese has a way of saying yes that means “yes I hear” not “yes I agree” This evokes a scene from the Tom Selleck movie, “MR. BASEBALL”. Selleck’s character is acting rude. His Japanese date lectures him. When Selleck answers, “Hai.” She asks, “Hai, as in yes, I agree; or Hai, as in, I hear you, but I’m going to do as I please anyway?!”
Thanks for pointing that out because Trump is too stupid to really understand what’s going on.
He needs someone like you to keep reminding him not to be an idiot
Mr. Trump has demonstrated with Mr. Kim that he understands very well how to negotiate with Asians. Hint: Don’t cause them to lose face at home.
I have experienced this on multiple occasions but it isn’t limited to “yes I hear” but also “yes I understand”. I spent an hour explaining technical details to an engineer in Japan. Each step of each detail he would say “ah yes, ok” leading me to believe understood. At the end I asked if he had questions, the question he asked meant that he didn’t understand anything I’d said.