I realized that yesterday's examples of "yes" and "no" in Chinese may not have been really clear. Here are some that might better illustrate what I mean about answers requiring more conviction or even commitment.
The word 吗 (ma) at the end of a question means that it's a yes-or-no question, but we weren't taught to actually answer with unique words for "yes" or "no." Instead, the way is to answer with the verb used in the question. So there's no simple "yes" or "no," but a full taking on of the action being asked.
你去北京吗？
Are you going to Beijing?
我去。
I am going.
你想她吗？
Do you miss her?
我想她。
I miss her.
你可以等外婆吗？
Can you wait for lola?
我可以等。
I can wait.
Note that none of the questions nor the answers used 是. I think you can actually answer questions with 是, but that would be like:
我在这儿可以买衣服吗？
Can I buy clothes here?
是。
(You) are.
I don't know if this is correct or just how I understand the nuances of Chinese grammar and vocabulary, but that understanding is based on what I've learned out of mainland-published textbooks, so....
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Cris is meeting the rest of my family tomorrow. That should be fun. :)
