MY GIFT TO YOU—GET YOUR FREE EBOOK—“THE 5-DAY JOURNEY TO CULTURAL AWARENESS”!
Today, February 14, is celebrated as “Valentine’s Day” in many places around the world. It is the day of love and an opportune time to say, “I love you.”
According to the Ethnologue Languages of the World, there are 7,097 spoken languages in the world today. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find how to say “I love you” in all 7,097, but I found a few.
Your Dictionary provides 20 languages written out with their pronunciations. Those with a non-Roman alphabet (for example, Arabic) are written phonetically in English.
I am sorry that it is not all-inclusive, and I apologize in advance for any very mispronounced phonetics!
“Pardon my French!”
Arabic (modern): Ana uhibbuka/uhibbuki (ah-nah oo-heh-boo-ka/oo-heh-boo-kee)
Danish: Jeg elsker dig (yay els-ka dah)
Dutch: Ik hou van jou (ick how fan yow)
Finnish: Mina rakastan sinua (mee-na rah-ka-stahn see-noo-ah)
French: Je t’aime (Zhuh tem)
German: Ich liebe dich (Ick leebuh dik)
Greek: S’agapo (seg-app-oh)
Hawaiian: Aloha wau ia ‘oe (a-loh-ha vaoo ea-ah oh-eh)
Italian: Ti amo (Tee ah-mo)
Japanese: Aishiteru (ay-she-tay-ee-roo)
Korean: Sarang hae (sa-rang-hey)
Mandarin: Wo ai ni (Wuh eye nee)
Polish: Kocham cie(ko-ham che)
Portuguese: Amo-te/eu te amo (ah-muh-tuh/oo chee ah-moh)
Romanian: Te lubesc (tay you-besk)
Russian: Ya lyublyu tebya (Yay loo-bloo teb-yeh)
Slovak: Lubim ta (loo-bim tiah)
Spanish: Te quiero/te amo (Tay key-aero/Tay-ah-mo)
Swahili: Naku penda (nah-koo pen-dah)
Swedish: Jag älskar dig (Ya ell-scar dey)
Try saying “I love you” in multiple languages, and check your pronunciation with the native speakers in this video:
—The Cultural Story-Weaver
MY GIFT TO YOU—GET YOUR FREE EBOOK—“THE 5-DAY JOURNEY TO CULTURAL AWARENESS”!
How cool is this?! I found some unique pendant necklaces that say, “I love you” in 100 languages. This necklace is beautiful too.
Let’s Weave Cultures!
If your language isn’t represented on this list or in this video, please tell us how to say, “I love you” in your language. Please include phonetic pronunciation, if you can, so we can practice too. 🙂
We invite you to tell us your own cultural stories and global adventures . . . as you engage with the world, breaking down barriers, building bridges, and “weaving cultures!” Write about them in the comment box below.
