English has this too, but Japanese takes it to another level

English also has words like “okay” that can mean different things

but I feel like Japanese takes this much further

for example:

すみません → sorry / thank you / excuse me
大丈夫です → yes / no / I’m fine / I don’t need it
はい → not always “yes” (sometimes just means “I hear you”)

as a native, we don’t really think about it, but I think this part can be really confusing for learners