How do I say "I like you" in Japanese?

[maxiewawa]

I've been on answers.yahoo.com spreading the word about Japanese recently. A lot of people specifically ask about where they can learn Japanese, so I recommend jPod. But about 50% don't ask about where to learn Japanese, but how to say a specific thing.

Questions on very specific vocabulary might go something like this: "I am meeting representatives from a Japanese floral company, what are the names of some flowers" or "I want to learn how to cook from a Japanese cookbook, Help!"

One theme comes up quite often in these questions though. The majority of vocab questions are to do with insulting people, or doing the opposite.

Only today I answered a question where the asker was asking "How do I say 1) Get lost 2) Shut up 3) stop looking at me" in Japanese? I guess they've been getting unwanted attention from a Japanese speaker!

But on the other end of the spectrum is people who ask the complete opposite! Today someone was asking how to say "I really like you, didn't you know?", and it's common to see questions about breaking the ice with Japanese girls in Japanese.

In summary, when someone asks about vocab to do with Japanese cooking, I post a link to one of our recent cooking lessons. When someone asks about restaurants, I point them to our survival series. JPod seems to have covered almost every topic (even monkey training!) but the language of love/strong insults seems to be a popular one that we haven't heard about. And my experience at answers.yahoo.com suggests that there are people interested in it.

[Psy]

One theme comes up quite often in these questions though. The majority of vocab questions are to do with insulting people,

I don't pay these people any mind. The last thing you want to be doing as a beginner is insulting people, especially in a culture where a polite introduction is the #1 thing to do.

But on the other end of the spectrum is people who ask the complete opposite! Today someone was asking how to say "I really like you, didn't you know?", and it's common to see questions about breaking the ice with Japanese girls in Japanese.

These people annoy me. For one, the phrases aren't hard to find online. For two, if they really wanted to learn the language (instead of just get chicks), they would find that J-Pod would provides all the needed vocab. The "I like" structure was covered early on, and have a whole bunch of random stuff about dating, going out and eating, visiting places and so on are scattered throughout the beginner lessons. I also remember listening a long time ago to an intermediate lesson that handled vocabulary for people breaking up-- so it's all there. All you need to do is get creative with it. People are just too lazy-- they don't care about the language, they just want the girls.

[Javizy]

Yeah, the ones who can't be bothered don't really deserve your time. Personally, I'd recommend jpod to the first 50%, and tell the others lines like 'you smell as lovely as a rose', misspelling ばら as ふんどし.

[maxiewawa]

These people annoy me. ... they don't care about the language, they just want the girls.

I never thought about that... but I don't think that we can definitely say that once someone opens their eyes to another language they might not develop a wider view.

[markystar]

"i like" is an easy construction taught early on in any language.
jpod101 has already covered the basics of it, and it re-occurs in numerous lessons after that. it's coming up again in the newbie series.


if you're looking for ways to meet girls/guys, we have a dating series coming up that will cover LI with plenty of Premium material to cover all the bases, even a bad date situation (god forbid)...

[Jason]

These people annoy me. ...they don't care about the language, they just want the girls.

But you see, these are the people you have fun with. By teaching them things that will end up making them look like idiots when they try to use it.

[Psy]

But you see, these are the people you have fun with. By teaching them things that will end up making them look like idiots when they try to use it.

I'm just not that mean-spirited. I would rather tell them that it would impress a lady much more if you yourself invested the 30 seconds it takes using google to find adequate words/phrases.

[Ulver_684]

Mina-san!

I have to confess that I was one of those idiots who used online Translations to impress Miki-san and a Japanese guy I met offline. At first I didn't care about learning the language but later on I fall in love with it. First I started with Romaji, later I learn hiragana & Katakana now I'm newbie in Kanji. I'm really now serious in learning Japanese because I want to go to Japan and make friends there.