Japanese

How can I use an affirmative sentence/a negative sentence?

This is a little confusing for English speakers. This is because there are some irregular forms. I'll explain them with two examples.

Example 1; ピザは好きじゃないの？[Don't you like pizza?]

In this case, in English, you will answer;

If you like pizza --> Yes, I do.

If you don't like pizza --> No, I don't.

However, in Japanese, the answer will be opposite because we see what people said.

If you like pizza --> いいえ、私はピザが好きです。[No. I like pizza.]

(You deny the part of 好きじゃない[don't like])

If you don't like pizza --> はい、私はピザが嫌いです。[Yes. I don't like pizza. ]

(You agree with the part of 好きじゃない[don't like])

Example 2; これって良くないですよね？[This isn't good, is it?

In this case, in English, you will answer;

If it is good--> Yes, it is.

If it isn't good --> No, it isn't.

However, in Japanese, as the same reason as example 1, we say;

If it is good --> いいえ、いいと思います。[No, I think this is good.]

(You deny the part of 良くない[not good])

If it isn't good --> はい、良くないと思います。[Yes, I think this isn't good. ]

(You agree with the part of 良くない[not good])

Do Japanese people understand all kanji(Chinese characters)?

The answer is ...........NO. 

During compulsory education, students learn 1,026 kanjis in elementary school, 1,110 kanji in junior high school. The daily used kanji that as defined by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology is 2,136 kanji, so all of those are taught to everyone in school.

However, because there are thousands of kanji, we can't read or use all of them. Especialy the kanji out of the range of daily used kanji, most of Japanese don't understand or guess the meaning of it.

Where is the subject???

When you use English, the subject is necessary to make a sentence. However, in Japanese, sometimes, you see a sentence that doesn't have any subject in it.

For example, if you are talking about what you did yesterday, the conversation partners will already understand that the subject of what you say is going to be you. I corded the parts of sentence with colour, that means those have roughly the same meaning. 

You don't have to skip the subject in every sentence. You can skip the subject, but native speakers naturally do so. The problem is that even native speakers sometimes do not understand what the subject is. For me personally, I prefer English to Japanese in this aspect.