Question about いいえ (no) in Japanese

[Fantt]

I'm going through the Pimsleur audio lessons, and in the sample dialogues, someone asks if you're an American and one of the answers you give is No, I am not American. In the lesson the response starts with いいえ ...

I took a semester of Japanese way back in the day and I remember our teacher telling us that you should very rarely use the word いいえ. Is this the case?

The dialogue is like this:

アメリカじん です か？
いいえ アメリカじん じゃ ありません。

Would that sort of response be acceptable? :?

Thanks!

 

[TwistedMac]

Might be a case of Japanese proper versus real used Japanese?

 

[Buntaro]

Yes, that response is acceptable. Use of "iie" is OK, especially when its use is of the polite type (saying no just to be polite).

 

[Giorgia_]

アメリカじん です か？
いいえ アメリカじん じゃ ありません。

Yes, but you don't really need to repeat "I'm not American" in this case.
You can simply say 「いいえ、違います。」 as we say "No, I'm not." in English.
Even if you are trying to be polite,
it sounds slightly unnatural to repeat that part.
Actually, you could say it like that, too, because it makes sense.
People understand what you mean, obviously.
It just... sounds unnatural to me.