A Romantic Thing

[Ongakuka]

O.K, so there's lots of ways to say the same thing in Japanese, but the trick is knowing which way suits the occasion. So how would I go about saying: "I love you.." in the romantic sense?? I could end up in a sticky situation if I um.. say the wrong thing.

[skrhgh3b]

as i've posted before, i recently watched the drama 電車男 and the big love confession in the final episode came out like this:

「僕・・僕・・・・あ・あ・あ・あ・・・・」
「がんばって。」
「・・・僕は・・僕は・・あ・あ・青山さんの事が・・・だ・だ・大好きです。」
「・・・私も・・山田さんの事が・・好きです。」

and can you believe the fansubber - despite his or her wonderful work - translated "suki" in this context as "like"? with all those tears, that could only have been "love," my friend.

[Ongakuka]

Fanatastic, thanks alot. Very much appreciated.::)

[skrhgh3b]

well, i wouldn't recommend stammering like that (^^;

[Ongakuka]

I'll probably stammer anyway!

[redfoxer]

i would makes u look cool B) i love japanese stammering...it sounds so much cooler then english s...s...s...sta...sta...stamerring

[Harisenbon]

Redfoxer,

No.. Japanese stammering is wretched. One of my friends (massive geek) stammers uncontrolably whenever he gets excited. The first time I met him, he was so excited to talk to a foreigner that I couldn't understand one word he was saying. I still want to beat him with a stick whenever he opens his mouth.

Besides that, nice guy though. =)

[Ensomniak86]

So how would you call someone "honey" or "baby" or something? O_o

[Harisenbon]

There are no love words liek honey and baby in japanese, which is why many japanese people have taken to using the english Darling ダーリン and honey ハニー and whatnot.

[Supergrunch]

My subtitled version of Spirited Away translates the word あなた as "honey". I know it means "you", but I remember hearing it carried a sense of intimacy with it, which is why it can be rude.

[skrhgh3b]

yeah. ダーリン is a popular pet name. in fact, i'm called ダーリン (^^;

you may be interested in a phrase book kodansha international publishes called "love, hate and everything inbetween: expressing emotions in japanese."

[skrhgh3b]

Supergrunch wrote:
My subtitled version of Spirited Away translates the word あなた as "honey". I know it means "you", but I remember hearing it carried a sense of intimacy with it, which is why it can be rude.

yeah, women often call their men anata, which is sometimes slurred to an'ta, i notice.

[Harisenbon]

Ummm..　あなた just means you. It has no rude connotations, and no lovey lovey connotations, either. Although if you said it in a really sexy voice (like saying: hey.. you...) it could probably be made to have some intimate connotations.

あんた is just a contraction of あなた, and is just more familiar than あなた. You wouldn't say it to your boss, but it's not a lover's word. My wife's mother calls everyone anta.

[Supergrunch]

I'm not saying that it did mean that, I'm just saying it was translated in that way. If you've seen the film, it's the bit at the beginning- Chihiro's mother refers to her father as あなた, and the subtitles translate it as "honey".

[sparky]

Supergrunch, I've seen that, too. I've also seen the word あなた being translated to a similar word (I can't recall, maybe "darling" or "honey" or whatever) in a Sailor Moon fansub. *shrugs* I guess these things have to be picked up depending on the context in which they are used in...