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
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”
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.
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.
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And then there's us Greek who have "Ne" but it means "Yes"
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
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”
I immediately knew this was gonna be about the head nodding ha
Shaking your head is mostly pointless these days in Bulgaria. As far as I know the Albanians kept this habit better than us.
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.
🇧🇬 This language is a relative of 🇷🇺Russian & 🇺🇦 Ukrainian
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.
So Bulgarian is one of those languages you also need to learn gestures. xD
oh, good info
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.
meanwhile here in the Philippines: Baka hindi (maybe not)
in albania they do that too lmao
the body language equivalent of UK roads
Koreans be like:
Thanks. Good observation when u add gestures to speech which is a topic on its own
Ne in Korean is also Yes. But we don’t shake our heads side to side lol
So I have a new headcanon for the show "el chavo del ocho":
Is it true that in the Bulgarian version of The Exorcist, the girl moved her head 360 degrees but vertically, not horizontally?