The following YouTube video explains how to pronounce ai shiteru: In addition, do not pronounce the "roo" sound as you would an English "r." The Japanese "r" sound is more of a mix of the English "d," "r," and "l" sounds, similar to the way we pronounce the "d" sound in the word "ladder." This means that the entire word sounds more like three syllables. Note that the second syllable (shee) is a lot shorter than it looks and sounds much more like just a quick "sh" sound. It’s truly not uncommon for married couples to never say, " Ai shiteru," throughout their entire marriage!ĭespite its weighty implications, you'll often see ai shiteru used in media, such as TV dramas and pop songs, for dramatic effect.Īi shiteru is pronounced AYE-shee-teh-roo. Even in these cases, however, you'll want to be careful not to overuse the word. Normally, the word is used only between serious lifelong lovers or when confessing your love for someone for the first time. In fact, I would even translate the word more closely to something like "I love you deeply" or "I am deeply in love with you." That’s how expressive this one word is!īecause of its heartfelt connotations-and because Japanese culture dictates that love should be expressed through actions and gestures rather than verbally through words- ai shiteru is rarely said aloud. Of all the ways you can express your love in Japanese, ai shiteru is by far the heaviest, most deeply felt way of doing so. It is also the one that arguably comes closest in meaning to the English expression "I love you." The character 愛 ai literally translates to "love," typically with the connotation of romantic love. The word ai shiteru 愛してる is essentially the default phrase for "I love you" in Japanese. #1: Ai shiteru 愛してる = I Love You (Deeply) In this section, we take a look at four different ways you can say "I love you" in Japanese. Nevertheless, Japanese people do occasionally say, "I love you," in Japanese, so it is possible to directly express your love in Japanese, even if doing so is a lot less common.Ĥ Unique Ways to Express Your Love in Japanese In this sense, love is almost like a poetic ideal instead of an actual feeling one can experience. There is also speculation that some (perhaps most) Japanese people feel that using the phrase "I love you" too much will render it meaningless, which is why it’s far more important to show your love than it is to directly state it.įinally, many people believe that the concept of love (particularly ai 愛) in Japanese is simply too abstract for ordinary people to be able to grasp. It’s far more common for couples, families, and friends in Japan to demonstrate their love for one another through actions, rather than to verbally affirm it. This habit is especially true for Japanese men, who more often tend to avoid extremely direct expressions of love. In general, Japanese-and by extension Japanese culture-is much more subtle and indirect than English and Western culture. In other words, Japanese people tend to abide by the "show, don’t tell" rule when it comes to expressing their love. For example, in English, it’s perfectly normal to tell your partner that you love them every day, or to end a phone call with a quick but heartfelt "love ya"-but this is rarely done in Japanese. The English sentence "I love you" is thrown around a lot more often and a lot more casually than the equivalent Japanese phrase (if you can say there truly is one!). In truth, it’s not nearly as common to say, "I love you," in Japanese as it is in English and the West more broadly. Saying "I Love You" in Japanese: Cultural Backgroundīefore we introduce the various ways to say, "I love you," in Japanese, it’s important to understand the cultural background when it comes to expressing love in Japanese. We'll then introduce four ways you can say, "I love you," in Japanese and give you four key tips for appropriately expressing your love in Japanese. In this article, we’ll explain why expressing your love verbally isn’t particularly common in Japanese society. The reality is that there’s no simple way to say, "I love you," in Japanese as there is in English. But if you're dating a Japanese person, expressing your love in Japanese can get pretty complicated. Feeling romantic? Then perhaps you're ready to say those three little words.
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