I have no desire to study Chinese grammar. My level of Chinese ability could perhaps best be described as 'Intermediate Conversational', and I have no intention of learning Chinese characters.

You made a statement by saying that there are no double-negatives in Chinese. I maintain that this is not the case.

I know that you are not NES and I genuinely respect you when it comes to your English ability, but however much the 'grammar police' protest, there are 'correct' uses of double negatives in both English and Chinese.

NES use double negatives for emphatic stress. Most of them are grammatically wrong, as in, 'I never did nothing'. The use of 'nothing' simply emphasizes the word 'never'. Nevertheless, it is bad English.

'She's not unattractive' is not the same as saying 'She's pretty', for example. 'She is pretty' is clearly a compliment, whereas 'She's not unattractive' leans more towards stating a fact or an opinion.

Moreover, NES often use double negatives in order to imply a certain meaning. Take this question for example -

'Paul, will you go to your brother's birthday party on Saturday?'

The answer 'Yes I will', implies a desire to go, but by saying 'I can't not go, he's my brother', implies that I will go out of a sense of duty, rather than desire.

As for double negatives in Chinese? My Chinese boss uses one regularly. 'Mei you ren bu zhidao' (nobody doesn't know). He says that it is more emphatic than 'Everyone knows'.

As for being grammatically wrong? I certainly don't have a problem with it!

It has been said before, (recently by Amused), that often Chinese English teachers teach English grammar more effectively than NES. I can't disagree with her, (another double negative). ESL students learn grammar in a more pragmatic way.

However, many FT's in China are attempting to prepare students for studying abroad in countries such as Canada and the USA, and so a certain emphasis needs to be on understanding what they will HEAR from NES in those countries.

As an extreme example, take the proverbial 'F-word'. It's used by NES as a noun, verb, adjective, adverb etc. It's is used in more ways than it's possible to cook an egg, and not ALL of those ways carry a negative connotation.

In the classroom, there are times when English grammar needs to be learned. There are also times when students need to learn...,well, 'English'