Yelläks /ˈyæl•eks/

The Indian way of nodding and showing the dialog partners some kind of approval might be irritating to some foreigners. Instead of nodding by moving the head up and down, the movement is somehow to the side. It looks quite similar to a “No”, if someone does not know.

One day I went down to the system administrator’s office, because I wanted something from then. So I started to explain, what I needed and the admin did that movement to show me that he understood. But I did not know what it meant and I thought that he did not get me. So I started to explain the issue more detailed causing his head to shake even more and I thought: “How can somebody like that be a system administrator? He does not have any clue, what I am talking about.” After a while I asked him, if that head movement means “Yes” and he agreed just by shaking his head as he did in the last 10 minutes…