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I love you in different languages

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58 messages over 8 pages: 13 4 5 6 7 8 Next >>
Solfrid Cristin
Heptaglot
Winner TAC 2011 & 2012
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 5345 days ago

4143 posts - 8864 votes 
Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 9 of 58
09 June 2010 at 5:05am | IP Logged 
Derian wrote:
Solfrid Cristin wrote:
I was just wondering about this the other day, so this thread is the answer to my prayers. :-)
Yeah, yeah, yeah... Don't lie to us!



I do not know Poland sufficiently well to say whether this would be o.k. in your culture, but just for the record: This is not o.k. in Norway and I do most certainly not appreciate being accused of lying.

Edit: Or actually, coming to think of it, what I do know of Polish culture is that it is unthinkable for a gentleman to accuse a lady of lying, as my Polish friends are possibly the most gentle and courtous people I know. Poland is the only place where I have actually experienced someone kissing my hand, something which even the French have given up on.

Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 09 June 2010 at 6:09am

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Derian
Triglot
Senior Member
PolandRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5319 days ago

227 posts - 464 votes 
Speaks: Polish*, English, German
Studies: Spanish, Russian, Czech, French, Mandarin, Japanese

 
 Message 10 of 58
09 June 2010 at 8:38am | IP Logged 
Solfrid Cristin wrote:
I do most certainly not appreciate being accused of lying.

Oh my. But it was meant in a friendly and jesting way!
How could you have thought otherwise... :(((

*kisses hand*

Solfrid Cristin wrote:
Poland is the only place where I have actually experienced someone kissing my hand, something which even the French have given up on.

How could anybody not kiss a woman on the hand! :)
I take great pride in our savoir-vivre. And it's very sad that with the influence of modern pop-culture, it is viewed by more and more people as old-fashioned... The male-female interractions are being stripped of the, hmm, romantic aura that I find so beautiful and valuable. It's also an element or respect, right.
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QiuJP
Triglot
Senior Member
Singapore
Joined 5866 days ago

428 posts - 597 votes 
Speaks: Mandarin*, EnglishC2, French
Studies: Czech, GermanB1, Russian, Japanese

 
 Message 11 of 58
09 June 2010 at 8:38am | IP Logged 
Chinese(Mandrian):

我爱你。(wo2 ai4 ni1)
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Solfrid Cristin
Heptaglot
Winner TAC 2011 & 2012
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 5345 days ago

4143 posts - 8864 votes 
Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 12 of 58
09 June 2010 at 9:51am | IP Logged 
Derian wrote:
Solfrid Cristin wrote:
I do most certainly not appreciate being accused of lying.

Oh my. But it was meant in a friendly and jesting way!
How could you have thought otherwise... :(((

*kisses hand*

Solfrid Cristin wrote:
Poland is the only place where I have actually experienced someone kissing my hand, something which even the French have given up on.

How could anybody not kiss a woman on the hand! :)
I take great pride in our savoir-vivre. And it's very sad that with the influence of modern pop-culture, it is viewed by more and more people as old-fashioned... The male-female interractions are being stripped of the, hmm, romantic aura that I find so beautiful and valuable. It's also an element or respect, right.


I see. So your message was written with a mute smiley? :-)

Well, no offence taken then. I have a big soft spot from anyone or anything Polish anyhow, so I probably couldn't have stayed mad for very long.

However, I would like to contribute to making this thread even more practical (because one can be practical even in the matters of the heart), by bringing in a couple of ways how you would express affection in real life situations.

Norwegian
It is correct that to say "I love you" in Norwegian is "Jeg elsker deg" .But if you meet a nice Norwegian girl, and you would like to let her know that you really like her, do not - repeat: do not - use that. I would run a mile if someone came up to me saying that.

"Jeg elsker deg" is so big, so overwhelming, that it is only to be used in extreme cases. I was over 30 before I used it the first time.

If any direct expression is to be used at all (because usually direct expressions are avoided - you would rather give a compliment to indicate your interest) then the correct expression would be:

"Jeg er glad i deg" - which translates to "I am fond of you", but is actually stronger than that.

English
Unless I have misunderstood the heap of moovies for teenagers my daughter makes me watch, the "I love you " is not so common in English either among young people. It is more " I really like you, with emphasis on really.


Spanish
In Spain too, I have in spite of my considerable amount of Spanish boyfriends never heard "Te quiero". I was so young at the time, that the expressions used were more "Me gustas" or any variant of compliment running along the lines of how fantastic/amazing/beautiful I was :-). But "Te quiero" was reserved for the special occasions. The exception was "Te quiero mucho", because in some weird way, that indicated less depth of involvment than the simple "Te quiero". I do not know if that changes as you grow older, but I think my husband would have serious objections if I tried to find out, so I'll have to pass on that one :-), but perhaps some of the adults who are native spakers of Spanish could tell me?

I am open for other views here, but the way I see it, a more real life version that you can actually use if you want to tell someone you have warm feelings for them would be:

English: I really like you.
Norwegian: Jeg er glad i deg
Spanish: Me gustas



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ennime
Tetraglot
Senior Member
South Africa
universityofbrokengl
Joined 5915 days ago

397 posts - 507 votes 
Speaks: English, Dutch*, Esperanto, Afrikaans
Studies: Xhosa, French, Korean, Portuguese, Zulu

 
 Message 13 of 58
09 June 2010 at 10:27am | IP Logged 
Xhosa: Ndiyakuthanda
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yall
Diglot
Newbie
Italy
Joined 5972 days ago

22 posts - 31 votes
Speaks: English*, Italian
Studies: Latin, French

 
 Message 14 of 58
09 June 2010 at 11:35am | IP Logged 
In Italy, I hear (on tv) and read (in the form of graffiti) "Ti voglio bene" more than "Ti amo."

EDIT: On further reflection, and after a google search (it's not 1990 after all), it seems that "Ti amo" is only used for lovers while "Ti voglio bene" is used for everyone you love (lovers, friends, family, etc).

Edited by yall on 09 June 2010 at 11:41am

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janalisa
Triglot
Senior Member
France
janafadness.com/blog
Joined 6901 days ago

284 posts - 466 votes 
Speaks: English*, French, Japanese
Studies: Russian, Norwegian

 
 Message 15 of 58
09 June 2010 at 1:33pm | IP Logged 
Solfrid Cristin wrote:

Norwegian
It is correct that to say "I love you" in Norwegian is "Jeg elsker deg" .But if you meet a nice Norwegian girl, and you would like to let her know that you really like her, do not - repeat: do not - use that. I would run a mile if someone came up to me saying that.

"Jeg elsker deg" is so big, so overwhelming, that it is only to be used in extreme cases. I was over 30 before I used it the first time.

If any direct expression is to be used at all (because usually direct expressions are avoided - you would rather give a compliment to indicate your interest) then the correct expression would be:

"Jeg er glad i deg" - which translates to "I am fond of you", but is actually stronger than that.


That's really interesting, because it's actually quite similar in Japanese. The OP wrote あなたを愛しています (anata wo aishiteimasu), which does technically mean "I love you." However, many Japanese people go their whole lives without ever saying this, especially not in this form, which sounds rather stiff and unnatural. If anything, people might say 愛してるよ (aishiteru yo), which can be said in a light-hearted way to tease someone. If it is ever said seriously, it's *very* deep. In a romantic situation, people would actually say 好きだよ (suki da yo), which literally means "I like you," but is actually quite a bit stronger. It's actually pretty similar to "I love you" as it's generally used in American English.

In American English, I do think young people say "I love you" in their relationships, but saying it is considered a really big deal-- like a sign of the next stage in the relationship-- so people usually won't say it right away. They say "I really like you" first, then if they're serious about the person they'll eventually say "I love you".

I used to date a Japanese guy, and this cultural difference was kind of difficult for me. I felt like I needed to hear "I love you", but all he'd ever say was 好きだよ (suki da yo). He said he could never say 愛している (aishiteiru), because it was just way too deep of a concept to get his head around. (And he was a very intelligent person!)
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janalisa
Triglot
Senior Member
France
janafadness.com/blog
Joined 6901 days ago

284 posts - 466 votes 
Speaks: English*, French, Japanese
Studies: Russian, Norwegian

 
 Message 16 of 58
09 June 2010 at 1:35pm | IP Logged 
Oh, and here's Thai: ฉันรักเธอ (chun ruk ter)


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