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Each language has a way of expressing reality that is marked by its traditions and its way of seeing the world. Even something that we could consider universal like love has its variants and nuances from one culture to another. In Spanish we can express love in many ways, and the expressions “I love you” and ” I love you ” mark two levels of love that their speakers clearly differentiate. In English, the phrase I love you denotes a strong sentimental commitment, and to express something less intense, phrases that could be translated as “I care about you”, “I like you” or “I like you” would be used.
In Japan, love is usually shown more with gestures than with words. However, the Japanese language has three phrases that can be adjusted to the type of love that we want to express in this article. They are suki, koi and ai.
Love suki 好き
This word would be the closest to the verb to like in Spanish, although in the case of Japanese we are not talking about a verb but an adjective. The order of the sentence also varies, and if we made a literal translation of each element we would have something like this:
Subject + object + suki
Watashi wa anata ga suki desu
This would be the correct way to express “I like you” in Japanese. When used with meals or activities indicates a preference. When used with a person it becomes a polite way of expressing love that can even encompass romantic and marriage intentions.
The adjective suki can also increase its intensity by adding the particle dai , it would remain daisuki , which would come to be translated as enchant.
love koi恋
The kanji koi points to passionate, selfish love, which usually appears at the beginning of a romantic relationship. It can be considered negative because it is a love that could lead a person to do crazy things. It is composed of two radicals that mean “again” and “heart”, which highlights the repetition or double intensity of this type of love.
If we must express falling in love, romance or courtship, the kanji koi should be used , which implies that strong attraction for another person, or the desire to be with them.
Proverbs with the kanji koi
恋に師匠なし
- Koi ni shishou nashi Love does not need teaching.
恋に上下の隔てなし
- Koi ni jouge no hedate nashi Love makes all men equal.
恋は思案のほか
- Koi wa shian no hoka Love is wrong.
恋は盲目
- Koi wa moumoku. Love is blind.
恋は熱しやすく冷めやすい。
- Koi wa nesshi yasuku same yasui Love becomes deep easily, but it cools down soon.
love ai愛
The kanji ai is made up of four radicals, or small kanji, which separately mean “hand,” “crown,” “heart,” and “descend.” These radicals already allow us to understand what kind of love the kanji ai expresses . It is about true, unconditional and perfect love, which is not selfish.
When we want to express the feelings that we might have towards a person in our family, the warm feeling that we can express through art or our pets, it would be more appropriate to use the kanji ai since it is the one that expresses pure, non-carnal love.
References
Daisuke Japan (2019) What is the difference between suki desu and suki dayo in Japanese?. Available at: https://youtu.be/uuYKwwKBIT4
Teru Sensei Japanese for Everyone (2020) Like/Dislike in Japanese. How to use suki and Kirai. Available at: https://youtu.be/KQmSu9fh9wI
Shuji, A. (2013). The essence of Japanese: Learning Japanese without a teacher. Publishing Club University.
