Let me count the ways...: ysabetwordsmith

Let me count the ways...

Say "I Love You" in 14 languages.

... more or less. I can't resist quibbling with the Russian. That verb, "liubliu," can mean "to like" or "to love." But the pronoun is the formal "you" not the familiar "you." If you're using the formal pronoun, you're not talking to someone you'd say "I love you" to, unless it's an older relative. So that version is more likely to come across as "I like you" (which you might say to a friend or a newish romantic partner). For the "I love you" connotation, the informal/intimate pronoun would more plausibly be used: "Ya liubliu tebya" it was in my textbooks, though the positioning of the pronoun is flexible and "Ya vas liubliu" as in the example is fine too.

Not only is the like/love ambiguity famous for causing embarrassment in Russia, I actually saw it happen to a friend in college who'd received a letter and interpreted it rather differently than was intended. And it wasn't until I saw the example in this list that I realized there are some contextual clues that can tip the meaning one way or the other.

Deleted comment

fayanora

February 16 2009, 04:28:57 UTC 12 years ago

New comment

Obvious spammer is obvious.

sigh

ysabetwordsmith

February 16 2009, 06:33:38 UTC 12 years ago

Must find blog bleach. There was a spate of spam stains today.

Re: sigh

12 years ago

Anonymous

February 15 2009, 02:20:37 UTC 12 years ago

ほんとにさ～。気分は最低。
あんたのせいで。

February 15 2009, 02:21:53 UTC 12 years ago

ほんとに気分がわるい。
当分療養しないと。
入院と治療費お願いします。
病院がきまったら、また連絡する。

je_reviens

February 15 2009, 03:23:11 UTC 12 years ago

Personally...

I think a blow job says I Love You in every language.

minor_architect

February 15 2009, 04:31:09 UTC 12 years ago

*laughs until she's hoarse*

Of course, my fiance' had to ask what all the fuss was about. When I explained, he rolled his eyes and said, "Jeez."

...then there was a pause, after which he added, "Not that I'm disagreeing, mind you."

:D

February 15 2009, 04:45:44 UTC 12 years ago

bwahahaha!

Does your fiance know that March 15th is officially "Steak and a Blow Job" Day?

If so I won't tell him.

eniastoa

Moose said it in a bunch more languages!

dakiwiboid

February 15 2009, 04:43:30 UTC 12 years ago

Over here! It was really sweet of him.

glitteringlynx

February 15 2009, 15:32:29 UTC 12 years ago

Well as for verbs, "to like" in Fremch is "aimer" and "to love" in French is "adorer." However, to say "I love you" in French is "Je t'aime" which would literally translate as "I you like."

So... it helps to get a native speaker to tell you that stuff. :)

Wow!

February 15 2009, 16:10:56 UTC 12 years ago

I had no idea. I always thought "aimer" meant love. What is "adorer" used for, then? Some different flavor of love, or lust?

I am reminded of the Whispering Sands bandit dialect, in which the closest terminology they have to "love" is rendered as "cherish" (man to wives) and "adore" (wife to husband), the connotations for each being different. The poor bandit was terribly baffled by the idea of a general, level term for "love" ... and at that, his Waterjewel guide was holding back from blurting out the bazillion other terms they have for affection, romance, and erotic affinity; none of which would've come any closer.

Re: Wow!

February 15 2009, 16:33:09 UTC 12 years ago

I'm no French expert (it's my second language) and I'm not fluent, but I've had the aimer/adorer convo w/ a few different French teachers. When we were using the terms in context, you would otherwise use aimer and adorer in the same as in English. Saying "I love you" just seems to be the one exception.

Okay, I looked online.

When "aime" is used with regard to a PERSON, it means either "to love/in love with." When used for family it is interpreted as "to love" but with any non-relative is meant "in love with." So in the case of "Je t'aime" it would more accurately mean "I'm in love with you."

If you did want to just say "I like him/her" you would use an adjective, such as "Je aime bien Mike" (I like Mike) or "Je l'aime assez Pauline" (I kind of like Pauline) or "Je t'aime beaucoup" (I like you a lot! or I really like you!)

When you're NOT talking about PEOPLE, it would be "I like."

Source: http://french.about.com/od/grammar/a/aimer.htm

About.com isn't always the best, but they do have a lot of good info and the examples they give for "aimer" agree with the context in which I was taught.

daev

February 16 2009, 00:23:57 UTC 12 years ago

I'll quibble with the Chinese, in that if you don't write the tones -- which they don't -- you are doing the same as not writing the consonants in English!