One of the first things quite confusing to foreigners upon arriving in Albania is the way Albanians say “Yes” or “No” non-verbally with their head movements. Traditionally, Albanians say “Yes” with a shake of their heads back and forth the same way that we Americans say “No”. And they say “No” with an up and down movement of their heads, just like our “Yes”.
Talk about mix-up’s in communication.
I remember that first summer in ’92 when I’d be in a dorm room full of 8 or 9 university women sharing with them about my life, faith and about American culture. Their faces would be transfixed on me (I was one of the first Americans they had ever met)- and occasionally they’d move their heads back and forth in agreement and undivided attention. But seeing this movement of their heads from side to side and coming from my American culture where that means a big “no-no”—I’d be thinking to myself, “Oh no, I’ve completely lost them, they have no idea what I’m talking about, they hate me”… until my translating friend would encourage me saying, “Keep going Tammy, they’re very interested in what you’re saying”—and I’d then remember our first cultural lesson on communication about ‘yes’ and ‘no’s.
Over the years, Albanians themselves have really evolved in their non-verbal use of the head shake for communicating “Yes” and “No”. Many of them, due to numerous interactions with foreigners, have adapted to tourists’ use of head shakes for saying “Yes” or “No”. This can really complicate things, as you don’t know if they are saying “yes” with their heads according to your culture, or “no” according to theirs and vice versa. 
Then the dilemma soon became “how should I respond when they ask me a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ question??”. I realized that if I just bobbed my head all over the place and actually learned how to say the words “Yes” and “No” in Albanian, then it wouldn’t really matter in the long-run as together we’d find our groove of communication. Thankfully, Albanians are very gracious with foreigners who seek to learn their language.
Photo by Adam Ciesielski
