Native Bulgarian here. The head movements are indeed "reversed", technically. But under the influence of the rest of the world (Hollywood, etc.) the "rest-of-the-world"/"normal" head motions are also recognized/used. In my observation they're even displacing the "native" versions slowly. Younger people tend to use the "international" version more. We may soon (a decade or two) "synchronize" with the rest of the world
@@step7814 I myself am not bulgarian but I do have a bulgarian relative, and yeah, it's a thing lol. Well, more so in the past but it does seem to be falling out of use for obvious reasons.
@@step7814 Yes and no, it's not really nodding that means "no" - it's just one quick head lift. However there are people who like to repeat "no, no, no" - then it turns into nodding.
Native one here. As a professional head nodder (I am a psychotherapist and I nod my head A LOT on a daily bases) I can tell that there are very fine differences between all nods. We kind of use both "international and local" indeed but there are particularities to it. The "yes" shake takes place with wider moves from center to right then left and back, rarely with more then 2, 3 cycles of that. Usually with about 10 degrees tilt to the right side (imagine the Earth`s axis tilt). The "No" shake is quicker and almost always accompanied with a quite sound "ts" with the tongue or with a facial grimace. The "no" shake is quicker more robust and can be then followed by the "universal yes nod", but this is the very important part - when we nod for "no" it`s not a nod it is in inverted direction. Base position then up!, then down. It is like your head catches the idea and throws it away with the head movement, then just bounces twice like an echo of the movement. And we do not nod for yes it is rather affirmation of understanding when we nod downwards - it is slower and rather comforting. If asked a question like "would you like an ice-cream" yes would be quick short left with a longer right meaning - "sure" or "throw away with the head movement" for no. I think this is it.
When I’ve been speaking to Indians (and when I visited India) I noticed that they shake their head to say yes… but they don’t shake their head the same way we shakes for no, but instead they ”tilt” it from side to side which at least here in northern europe would mean ”maybe, maybe not, i don’t really know, seems okay”
In India, side-to-side wobble means something like 'maybe', 'uh...ya', 'hmm', 'ok', 'I'm listening' or polite or timid 'yes', while up-and-down nod means a more plain 'yes'.
I actually had first-hand experience with this. I had a Bulgarian colleague when I was doing my PhD some 20 years ago, and in the beginning we did end up in some awkward situations.
The guy above is right. During the times of the Ottoman Empire the Turks would round up all the men in a village or town and ask them if they are Christian while holding a knife to their necks, if they answered yes their throat would be slit. So since then it was decided that the head gestures for yes and no would be reversed. Though the yes gesture is more of a wobble with movement from the top of the head.
Contact with other cultures. Things tend to synchronize to the prestige-culture. The Bulgarians migrated into the region they lived now back when the Byzantine Empire was still a dominant power in that part of Europe. Since the Byzantines we're basically a continuation/successor/descendant-culture of Ancient Greece, I bet that the Bulgarians adopted it from the Byzantines a.k.a. Greeks, who use the same head gestures.
Correct. Bulgarian is South Slavic, and is closest to Macedonian, Slovene and Shtokavian/Serbo-Croatian; Russian and Ukrainian are East Slavic langs, alongside Rusyn and Belarusian.
@@atanasstoilov421 not really. There really is no limit to tell when a dialect turns into a language so the separation might have even happened earlier.
@@atanasstoilov421 the separation might have also happened in the 19th century and it wasn't only due to Yugoslav influence. Had this been the case then the slavophones in Greece would have been speaking clear Bulgarian, but some dialects are not easily comprehensible for Bulgarians.
The head geatures are slightly different through! Not just reversed, the sideways yes: stops in the middle more or less, and the upwards no is mostly up once and stops rather than nodding
There is a joke in which Someone has a red and white flag. The flag is raised with the white on top and the red and the bottom. The person asks if it's the correct flag. Both the Poles and the Indonesians say "Tak!"
No, they don't do it like you shown. Yes, they technicaly nod and turn in opposite way, but it's not just switched meaning- those head gestures are actually a bit differend and specific.
@@Langfocus I think that "nod" for no is actually more like pulling your head back, like turks do. A guy explained it to me like "you raise your eybrows, and let them drag your head back". "Turn" for yes looks actually more like that typical indian head thing they do all the time.
Honestly as a younger generation of a Bulgarian I nod my head in the most known way and sometimes it also creates some confusion when I am talking with someone elderly, so I just avoid using the nodding and I just straight away say "da" or "ne".
Уважавам Българската култура и сигурно и ти и разбирам защо си ми леко ядосан ,но и аз от гледане на много телевизия съм свикнал да го правя по по разпространения начин още от малък и просто не мога да му свикна
I wouldn't say Bulgarian is softer than Russian, when Russian kept most of its palatalization that Bulgarian lost with time (only few is kept, because of the Eastern and Central dialects that has been codified Modern Bulgarian from 1945). Heck Modern Bulgarian lacks of ''je'' sounds after consonants like the rest Slavic languages and use only ''je'' at begining or after a vowel in foreign words, and the ''ji'' sound is also not even in modern day Bulgarian, while Russian still have some words with it. Bulgarian used to have way more letters and even till 1945 we had 32 letters but now just 30, due to many reforms. Also Russian still has 6 cases and infinitive form, while Bulgarian has only 2 case and no infinitive form. Russian doesn't have vocative case but Bulgarian has and it uses definite articles with nominative case like some Northern Russian dialects. Russian is just super archaic Old Bulgarian dialect that many Russians deny but it's the truth. Most of the forms, words that they use are just super archaic for us. And even that ''O'' reduced to A or schwa still exist in some dialects in Bulgarian like Pomak but not in the Standard form. You must be kid who is not familiar with both saying that.
It had to do with islam,when the muslim tried to firce convert them by putting a swird in their throat,they came up with the idea of doing the opposite by saying no with head going up and down the blade wouldn't cut their throat.
@@ericjohnson6634in Bulgaria,the blade under throat from Muslim was part of the curriculum in school in Bulgaria and other Baltic countries so it is in some 6 million books until 1989.Also it makes total sense since it seems like a good technique to avoid having your throat cut.i wish the Coptic christian that were forced to convert 5 years ago would"ve used same technique.or all the other countries that have been invaded by the attacking Arab armies around the year 750 such as morrocco,Algeria,Tunesia,Palestine,Lebanon,lybia,Egypt,Syria,Jordan etc...
Hi! I hope you found the clip interesting! See the full video: ▶ czcams.com/video/og2XTxFwIBY/video.html ◀
And then there's us Greek who have "Ne" but it means "Yes"
.....huh?
It’s nai not ne
@@captivatedlunt1895 'Nai' is in ancient pronunciation. Now it is written the same but pronounced differently - ναι (ne).
@@researcher7578 weird how ai is e
@@researcher7578 weird how ai is e
Native Bulgarian here. The head movements are indeed "reversed", technically. But under the influence of the rest of the world (Hollywood, etc.) the "rest-of-the-world"/"normal" head motions are also recognized/used. In my observation they're even displacing the "native" versions slowly. Younger people tend to use the "international" version more. We may soon (a decade or two) "synchronize" with the rest of the world
Let's hope so. Adapting to left-right driving is enough for world travelers.
@@robran53 what do you mean? We drive the same way like the rest of the world.
Good to hear. I already have social anxiety as it is 😅
@@atanasstoilov421 I think he means that in some countries you drive on the left side and in others in the right, so that can be confusing
Good. This one isn't worth preserving. Synchronise already
I immediately knew this was gonna be about the head nodding ha
Same lol
Are you Bulgarian? Is it really a thing?
Same
@@step7814 I myself am not bulgarian but I do have a bulgarian relative, and yeah, it's a thing lol. Well, more so in the past but it does seem to be falling out of use for obvious reasons.
@@step7814 Yes and no, it's not really nodding that means "no" - it's just one quick head lift. However there are people who like to repeat "no, no, no" - then it turns into nodding.
Native one here. As a professional head nodder (I am a psychotherapist and I nod my head A LOT on a daily bases) I can tell that there are very fine differences between all nods.
We kind of use both "international and local" indeed but there are particularities to it. The "yes" shake takes place with wider moves from center to right then left and back, rarely with more then 2, 3 cycles of that. Usually with about 10 degrees tilt to the right side (imagine the Earth`s axis tilt).
The "No" shake is quicker and almost always accompanied with a quite sound "ts" with the tongue or with a facial grimace. The "no" shake is quicker more robust and can be then followed by the "universal yes nod", but this is the very important part - when we nod for "no" it`s not a nod it is in inverted direction. Base position then up!, then down. It is like your head catches the idea and throws it away with the head movement, then just bounces twice like an echo of the movement. And we do not nod for yes it is rather affirmation of understanding when we nod downwards - it is slower and rather comforting. If asked a question like "would you like an ice-cream" yes would be quick short left with a longer right meaning - "sure" or "throw away with the head movement" for no. I think this is it.
As a native bulgarian, this is incredibly accurate! Ive never been able to put into words the difference between the nods are but you nailed it!
The "yes" you describe is more of the "добре" shake than the simple "yes". There's a difference between the two, though slight.
When I’ve been speaking to Indians (and when I visited India) I noticed that they shake their head to say yes… but they don’t shake their head the same way we shakes for no, but instead they ”tilt” it from side to side which at least here in northern europe would mean ”maybe, maybe not, i don’t really know, seems okay”
In South Asia the side-to-side “maybe” nod indicates agreement or yes.
I'm Indian and I've never seen this? Maybe it's a thing in specific region or something.
In India, side-to-side wobble means something like 'maybe', 'uh...ya', 'hmm', 'ok', 'I'm listening' or polite or timid 'yes', while up-and-down nod means a more plain 'yes'.
@@kshatrapavan then it must be different depending on region in India, cause I asked people about it and they said side to side mean a strong yes
@@johanfagerstromjarlenfors It is more common in Central+South India.
I actually had first-hand experience with this. I had a Bulgarian colleague when I was doing my PhD some 20 years ago, and in the beginning we did end up in some awkward situations.
in albania they do that too lmao
meanwhile here in the Philippines: Baka hindi (maybe not)
Hindi speakers: did you just say "stupid hindi?"
the body language equivalent of UK roads
Koreans be like:
Yes: Ne
Yes: Ye
What's the word for no then?
@@devofficialchannel Ani/Aniyo
So Bulgarian is one of those languages you also need to learn gestures. xD
Yup, just like italian‼️
Maybe
So I have a new headcanon for the show "el chavo del ocho":
el chavo... Knew Bulgarian. Interesting... Lol
Thanks for this short!
jajajaja! 😅😅
Thanks. Good observation when u add gestures to speech which is a topic on its own
Is it true that in the Bulgarian version of The Exorcist, the girl moved her head 360 degrees but vertically, not horizontally?
Interesting question!
I highly doubt we had the means to re-shoot the scene xd
Ne in Korean is also Yes. But we don’t shake our heads side to side lol
Ne is No, Da is Yes
"Ne" means "What" in Turkish
@@Tan-zi4eh Ne also means No in German.
@@dexter8549 No. Nein means no in German. Ne is just a shortened form
As Bulgarian i can say its funny understanding it🤣
I have lived years in Bulgaria.At first it was really confusing🤣
As far as I remember, the head movements are reversed in Albania too, correct me if I'm wrong. I presume there must be some kind of connection.
The nodding in reverse is the same with Albanians from the Republic of Albania too
fun fact: we're not the only ones to shake their heads to say "yes" (which shaking differs from the universal "no" shake).
Also 🇦🇱 do this
full video will air in 45 h 😰😭😭
I can't wait………
Same ike the Greek people! A bit confusing when checking head.
I'm kind of curious what causes a culture to choose a head shake or a nod to mean either yes or no?
probably because they wanted to confuse their enemies or smth long time ago
The guy above is right. During the times of the Ottoman Empire the Turks would round up all the men in a village or town and ask them if they are Christian while holding a knife to their necks, if they answered yes their throat would be slit. So since then it was decided that the head gestures for yes and no would be reversed. Though the yes gesture is more of a wobble with movement from the top of the head.
Contact with other cultures. Things tend to synchronize to the prestige-culture.
The Bulgarians migrated into the region they lived now back when the Byzantine Empire was still a dominant power in that part of Europe. Since the Byzantines we're basically a continuation/successor/descendant-culture of Ancient Greece, I bet that the Bulgarians adopted it from the Byzantines a.k.a. Greeks, who use the same head gestures.
@@someguysomeone3543that's an urban legend and also the yes gesture is not with a wobble, that's the "ok" or "good" gesture.
@@John_Weissno
When you ask a Bulgarian girl out and the "no means no" gets to the next confusing level. 😁
So you see your honour, she was Bulgarian, I thought she said yes
🇧🇬 This language is a relative of 🇷🇺Russian & 🇺🇦 Ukrainian
Correct. Bulgarian is South Slavic, and is closest to Macedonian, Slovene and Shtokavian/Serbo-Croatian; Russian and Ukrainian are East Slavic langs, alongside Rusyn and Belarusian.
@@seid3366 yes. Macedonian separated from Bulgarian in 20 th century mostly with serbian and yigoslav influence
@@atanasstoilov421 not really. There really is no limit to tell when a dialect turns into a language so the separation might have even happened earlier.
@@gnas1897 What do you mean?
@@atanasstoilov421 the separation might have also happened in the 19th century and it wasn't only due to Yugoslav influence. Had this been the case then the slavophones in Greece would have been speaking clear Bulgarian, but some dialects are not easily comprehensible for Bulgarians.
Ohh, that's why my Bulgarian friend gets confused when I shake my head to say no or yes!
oh, good info
This is why my aunt did not understand what I'm saying 😭
The head geatures are slightly different through! Not just reversed, the sideways yes: stops in the middle more or less, and the upwards no is mostly up once and stops rather than nodding
And there is this Indonesian with Tak means No.
And Korean with Ne means Yes.
Tak means yes in Polish.
And takk in Norwegian means thank you
In Greece ne also means yes, even though it is 4 countries from Korea and next to Bulgaria
There is a joke in which Someone has a red and white flag. The flag is raised with the white on top and the red and the bottom. The person asks if it's the correct flag.
Both the Poles and the Indonesians say "Tak!"
@@bubbletea695 In Ukrainian, Belarusian too.
No, they don't do it like you shown. Yes, they technicaly nod and turn in opposite way, but it's not just switched meaning- those head gestures are actually a bit differend and specific.
I'm sure a Bulgarian can demonstrate it better than I can.
@@Langfocus I think that "nod" for no is actually more like pulling your head back, like turks do. A guy explained it to me like "you raise your eybrows, and let them drag your head back". "Turn" for yes looks actually more like that typical indian head thing they do all the time.
Singing in the Rain out-of-sync talkie scene, anyone?
When the Byzantines and Bulgarians have so much beef their that the yes for the former is no for the latter
People from south part of India can communicate with Bulgarians quite easily 😂
True.
It reminds me of that one scene in Liar Liar.
Absolutely
That’s interesting. In Irish, yes is “” and no is “”
yeah.. there’s no words for yes or no
@@eireball Huh, like latin. Interesting. Is it same in other celtic languages as well?
This is true!
I am bulgarian so ik ok?💅
Yes
How can Bulgarians be such eccentric?
☺️😃
Not all Bulgarians are like this though.
I knew this long time ago!!!
Strange and confusing!!!
Why did this happen?!
I am from bulgaria
Does anyone know if this is the same in North Macedonia?
I am from there, the words are the same but the head gestures are not.
North Macedonia=best history
In my Bulgarian dialect ,Shopean we have mixture between Yes ( Da) and No( Ne) ,and it is De ( meaning yes ,but no or yes and no)
slavic italian
Nothing like Italian. Bulgarian is South Slavic
Говорят так было раньше, а щас уже нормальные жесты
Зависит
Honestly as a younger generation of a Bulgarian I nod my head in the most known way and sometimes it also creates some confusion when I am talking with someone elderly, so I just avoid using the nodding and I just straight away say "da" or "ne".
Не си длъжен да го правиш. Ние си имаме красива култура и защо да я унищожаваме?
Уважавам Българската култура и сигурно и ти и разбирам защо си ми леко ядосан ,но и аз от гледане на много телевизия съм свикнал да го правя по по разпространения начин още от малък и просто не мога да му свикна
The nodding is right but we do it with a slight difference if we do it u will of course understand us
so el Chavo del ocho is Bulgarian... interesting...
In India we so a weird z-axis thing that means yes
Yesnt
True, but these days I can confirm that only elderly people do it, most people shake their head for no and nod for yes. Still, you might get confused.
Shaking your head is mostly pointless these days in Bulgaria. As far as I know the Albanians kept this habit better than us.
Beloved Bulgarian … why are you doing this to us? 😔
Because of the Ottomans.
Maybe Bulgarians picked up some of Indian's head motions
They play inverted controls
😂😂😂
My great grandmother was from cypus, and she would say ναι (ne) which means "yes" and also shake her head from side to side, which is just awful
Weird 😏
only in bulgaria fr
Si es que el chavo del 8 no estaba loco
Let the Indians talk to them
Lol
In Romanian it's the opposite
So... Do Bulgarians say "meh" and if they do what does it mean?
Cuz this is one syllable away from a Bakamitai meme.
Doesnt arabic do this too?
Actually the head movements are the same as the other cultures,idk why you said that
Its the same as in Indian
Am I the only Bulgarian who still can't use these shaking and nodding sings?
It is usually used by old people.
Bulgaria are you going to join Entente ?
*Nods head up and down*
So you will attack ottomans?
*Nods head side to side*
"No gers"
Really? I'm in Serbia and have been to Bulgaria but havent seen this.
Older generation does it.
HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!! 😱
It's because of the Ottomans. They enslaved us and in order to confuse them we just swapped that. That's in short how this happened.
I thought albanians do it not bulgarians
Albanians do this also 😅
@@wittyamv Albanians arent Slavs but they are still similar to Bulgarians
So Bulgarian is just Russian with a softer accent 🤣😜
Read some books. Russian comes from Bulgaria
Getting banned from ever stepping into Bulgaria speedrun (any%)
I wouldn't say Bulgarian is softer than Russian, when Russian kept most of its palatalization that Bulgarian lost with time (only few is kept, because of the Eastern and Central dialects that has been codified Modern Bulgarian from 1945). Heck Modern Bulgarian lacks of ''je'' sounds after consonants like the rest Slavic languages and use only ''je'' at begining or after a vowel in foreign words, and the ''ji'' sound is also not even in modern day Bulgarian, while Russian still have some words with it.
Bulgarian used to have way more letters and even till 1945 we had 32 letters but now just 30, due to many reforms.
Also Russian still has 6 cases and infinitive form, while Bulgarian has only 2 case and no infinitive form. Russian doesn't have vocative case but Bulgarian has and it uses definite articles with nominative case like some Northern Russian dialects.
Russian is just super archaic Old Bulgarian dialect that many Russians deny but it's the truth. Most of the forms, words that they use are just super archaic for us. And even that ''O'' reduced to A or schwa still exist in some dialects in Bulgarian like Pomak but not in the Standard form.
You must be kid who is not familiar with both saying that.
Not exactly
It had to do with islam,when the muslim tried to firce convert them by putting a swird in their throat,they came up with the idea of doing the opposite by saying no with head going up and down the blade wouldn't cut their throat.
Historical source, or didn't happen.
@@ericjohnson6634in Bulgaria,the blade under throat from Muslim was part of the curriculum in school in Bulgaria and other Baltic countries so it is in some 6 million books until 1989.Also it makes total sense since it seems like a good technique to avoid having your throat cut.i wish the Coptic christian that were forced to convert 5 years ago would"ve used same technique.or all the other countries that have been invaded by the attacking Arab armies around the year 750 such as morrocco,Algeria,Tunesia,Palestine,Lebanon,lybia,Egypt,Syria,Jordan etc...
209th
I’m not a Bulgarian. I am a Vulgarian!!!!!
Так ні
As in various other countries
Same like in India???
Seriously Bulgaria??? European country doing that??? 😒😒😒
Well, I mean our minorities known as Romani also come from India too so?