08 How do I say "I love you" in Japanese?
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This article is from the Japanese FAQ, by TANAKA Tomoyuki tanaka@cs.indiana.edu and Olaf Meeuwissen olaf@IMSL.shinshu-u.ac.jp with numerous contributions by others.
08 How do I say "I love you" in Japanese?
There have been two traditional answers for this.
(i think someone posted an answer in this form before me.)
1. you don't. (you don't say it; you show it.)
Confucius, Jesus
Nicholas Kristof's racist spin
(1) Japanese married couples don't love each other
(2) in Japanese there are more words for rice than for love (false).
for Nicholas Kristof and The New York Times, see:
http://www.cs.indiana.edu/hyplan/tanaka/m/zipangu.txt
http://www.tiac.net/users/zipangu/book_e.html
http://search2.go2net.com/crawler?general=Nicholas+Kristof+japan
http://search2.go2net.com/crawler?general=Nicholas+Kristof+racist
http://search2.go2net.com/crawler?general=Nicholas+Kristof+racism
http://search2.go2net.com/crawler?general=Nicholas+Kristof+prejudice
http://search2.go2net.com/crawler?general=Kristof+zipangu
2. suki, daisuki, suki-dayo, suki-desu, ai-siteru-yo, ...
dialect and other variants:
suki-yanen, horetennen, ho-no-ji nanda,
gottuu suiterunen, ositai siteimasu,
kimi ni muchuu nanda, koisiinda,
mae kara kimi no koto omotte tanda,
...
other expressions for love:
kesou-suru, sibo-suru, renbo-suru (renbo no jou)
renchaku-suru,
ren-ai, aijou, aigan, aiseki-suru,
ren-ren-to (adv.)
aiyoku, seiai, yokubou, yokujou, retujou, ...
yuuai, keiai, jou-ai
ii hito ga iru, ...
mune ga uzuku,
koibito, karesi, kanojo, koibumi, ...
"kawaisou dataa horetatte kotoyo"
(Natume Souseki's interpretation of "pity is akin to love".)
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