WHO doesn’t love to hear those three little words, I love you? So few words can express so much. As much as they can make your heart flutter, it can be even more magical – or just plain fun – to share your feelings by saying I love you in a foreign tongue. To that end, here is a list of ways how to say I love you in different languages.

I love you in Afrikaans – ek is lief vir jou

I love you in Arabic – ana behibak (to a man); ana behibek (to a woman)

I love you in Catalan – t’estimo

I love you in Chinese (Mandarin) – Wo ai ni

I love you in Croatian – volim te

I love you in Czech – miluji tě

I love you in Danish – jeg elsker dig

I love you in Dutch – ik hou van jou

I love you in Filipino – mahal kita

I love you in Finnish – Minä rakastan sinua

I love you in French – je t’aime

I love you in German – ich liebe dich

I love you in Greek – S’agapo

I love you in Hebrew – Ohevet ot’cha (to a man); ani oheve otach (to a woman)

I love you in Irish – tá grá agam duit

I love you in Italian – ti amo

I love you in Japanese – aishiteru

I love you in Norwegian - jeg elsker deg

I love you in Polish – kocham cię

I love you in Portuguese – eu te amo

I love you in Russian – ya tebya lyublyu

I love you in Spanish – te amo

I love you in Swahili – ninakupenda

I love you in Swedish – jag älskar dig

I love you in Turkish – seni seviyorum

I love you in Vietnamese – Tôi yêu bạn

I love you in Welsh - Rwy’n dy garu di

UNLIKE many, if not most, other languages, how do you say I love you in Japanese is not an easy question to answer. Culturally, the Japanese are less inclined to say I love you than Westerners. The preference is to show love rather than to verbally express it. Although that is becoming less true of the younger generation, it still would not be surprising to a Japanese person if another Japanese person confessed that they had never uttered the phrase in their entire life!

Japanese is hard – Rosetta Stone language software makes it easy!

But you and me, we are not Japanese, presumably, since we want to learn how to say I love you in Japanese. However, keeping this cultural difference in mind, once you do learn how to say those three little words in this magnificent Eastern tongue do not be surprised if the object of your affection doesn’t reciprocate!

So if you still want to chance it, here goes. One way to say I love you in Japanese, the way with the strongest sentiment attached to it, is aishiteru (pronounced ah-ee-shee-teh-ee-roo). Another way is daisuki desu (pronounced dah-ee-soo-kee-deh-soo), which pretty much translates into I like you a lot. (Note that there is no ‘r’ sound in Japanese, it is pronounced almost like a soft ‘d’. And the syllables ‘ru’ and ‘su’ at the end of the word are hardly pronounced at all. With ‘su’ you sort of have to cut off the sound of the ‘u’ as soon as you pronounce the ‘s’.)

Click here to check out some other great resources for learning Japanese.

AllPosters.com