Ti amo. Sei bella! ('bello' if you're speaking to a male.)
Or
Ti voglio bene! Sei carina!
I add the second because the verb 'amare' is used to connotate a very strong emotion-- you don't usually hear it expressed except between people who already have a relationship. And 'carina' connotates 'cute' or 'dear' or 'precious' rather than beautiful.
BTW, 'voglio' sounds like vo-lee-oh. The 'gl' sound in Italian is produced by stretching the back of your tongue against the molars, and blowing around the sides of it-- like the 'll' in 'million.' Sort of.
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Klingon: qamuSHa' bI'IH (Lit. "I do not detest you. You are beautiful.") (Pronounced roughly as "kahMOOzcha BLIH-ICH.")
Note that Mark Okrand, whom I consider semi-authoritative on this point, observes that the word "parmaq" for "love" as a noun is now canon, thanks to an episode of DS9, but says he strongly objects to the idea of "love" as a verb for Klingons (and would have objected to the noun if they'd asked him). The Klingon noun for "object of my affection" or "person I love" is "bang;" unfortunately, while "you are the person I love" is therefore a valid construction, it's also not quite what we're looking for here. You might be able to say "I feel love for you," except that there is no Klingon word for "feel" in the sense of feeling an emotion.
posted
Lisa: Wouldn't it be Mi ami vin. Vi estas bela?
The vi is the object, so doesn't it need an "n"? and don't you need the verb in the second sentance?
I really don't know. My esperanto is really awful.
Kojabu: That was in ththla. I needed a language for magic in my comic. So I figured I would make it something that sounded really nice to my ears.
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Wow, Chinese made it to the second page? I must be in the minority here then, and on the teeny weeny minority as a Chinese Canadian.
In any case, I give you two more (sorta...its a long story) translations.
Mandarin (took a course): Characters: 我爱你. 你很漂亮. Pinyin: wo3 ai4 ni3. ni3 hen3 piao4 liang4. As a bit of background Mandarin uses five tones (well, four tones and one lack of tone). (1=constant, 2=rising, 3=down-then-up, 4=diving 5=none)
Cantonese (mother tongue, never learned formally): Sounds like: O oi lei. Lei hou len. (Never saw a standard Cantonese pinyin and the number of tones seems to change depending on who you ask, sigh)
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(The first is right - though the Irish have zillions of ways to express affection and tend to be somewhat more poetic about it - "Tá mo chroí istigh ionat" for example, means "My heart is within you." The second could be wrong. It is possible that "beautiful should be one of the "you have" constructions rather than a "you are" construction and I just don't have enough grammar to know it.)
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You could say "you have my heart" or "my heart is inside you" in Klingon, now that I think about it. Although if you left off the suffix that indicates a metaphor, it would be meant literally. *grin*
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Actually, I'm wrong too, now that I think about it. "ami" is the infinitive. it should be "amas."
Mi amas vin. vi estas bela.
If I had infinate time, I would study Esperanto again... (and japanese.. and spanish... and if I could only retain it all!)
Posts: 7085 | Registered: Apr 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Mucus: Wow, Chinese made it to the second page? I must be in the minority here then, and on the teeny weeny minority as a Chinese Canadian.
In any case, I give you two more (sorta...its a long story) translations.
Mandarin (took a course): Characters: 我爱你. 你很漂亮. Pinyin: wo3 ai4 ni3. ni3 hen3 piao4 liang4. As a bit of background Mandarin uses five tones (well, four tones and one lack of tone). (1=constant, 2=rising, 3=down-then-up, 4=diving 5=none)
Cantonese (mother tongue, never learned formally): Sounds like: O oi lei. Lei hou len. (Never saw a standard Cantonese pinyin and the number of tones seems to change depending on who you ask, sigh)
Your version works but "Piao Liang" at least for me denotes more of a, "pretty" feeling, rather then a literally, "beautiful." But people do use it to describe things as "beautiful."
"Mei3 Li4" has more of a beautiful flavor.
so, "Wo3 Ai4 Ni3! Ni3 hen2 mei3 li4!" For a slight anglo pronounciation guide.
Wo= Waw (aw as in the word "law") Ai= as in "Ai Yai Yai Yai Ya!" Ni= as in "knee" Hen= as in "Atilla the (Hun)" Mei= as in "May flowers" Li= as in "Bruce Lee"
If you want to use Piao Liang, go ahead, I don't want to sound like an elitist. Heres is a pronounciation guide for it.
Piao= say, "PeeOW" and naturally flow from the Pee to the Ow. Liang= Li="Lee" Ang= the "ong" sound in "wrong"
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by kmbboots: Tá grá agam duit. Ta tú álainn. Gaelic
How is that pronounced, though?
Hmmm...my pronounciation is not good.
Tah (g)hrah ahgum dwit. Tah too ah layn.
Sort of. Gra has a very back of the throat thing going on. Almost like a voiced version of the Hebrew sound ch. D is a bit softer - towards a j sound. Ui is "ih" with a hint of the U in front. Agam the accent is on the first syllable.
Я люблю вас. Вы красивейши. ya lyublyu' vas. vui(vy) krasivejshi. Вы/вас are formal you. and it works for male and female. I'm not sure what красивейши means exactly but it sounds close enough to the version I learned.
informal you (to male) Я тебя люблю. Ты красивый. ya tebya' lyublyu'. tui(ty) krasi'vyj. I put the apostrophe after each stressed syllable.
informal you (to female) Я люблю тебя. Ты красивая. ya lyublyu' tebya'. tui(ty) krasi'vaya. I switched the 'love' and 'you' around between the male and female versions. Both work in Russian.
and Ты красавица. tui(ty) krasa'vitsa. means 'You're a beauty.' (to female)
I second Mucus on the Wow, Chinese on the second page. Mandarin looks to be in good order. piao liang is the first thing that came to mind for me, but mei li sounds good too. I'm not a native Mandarin speaker.
Cantonese: 我愛你. 你好靚. ngo5 oi3/ngoi3 nei5. nei5 hou2/hou3 leng3. Romanization from the jyutping system, found at http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk Jyutping seems to be the most widespread system at this point.
In my experience, the 'n' in 'nei' for 'you' is interchangeable with 'l'. So both 'lei' and 'nei' are acceptable.
Also, I don't know if anyone would really say 你好靚. It's a perfectly valid sentence, but sounds a little kid-y. What do you think? I know, I'll ask my family.
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BlackBlade: Not a native Mandarin OR Cantonese speaker although technically I did learn some Cantonese before hitting the English (+ a little French) Canadian school system.
As for "Mei3 Li4", from my sketchy rememberings, I think you're right. That it is more commonly used although I learned the other one first. I also seem to recall that "Mei3 Li4" often gets shortened to "Mei3" though.
esl: No idea, I just tried to work it out as a guess since no one else had done it yet. I'm sure there's a better translation and I await yours. Posts: 7593 | Registered: Sep 2006
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posted
Like I said before Mucus, your sentence works just fine. Dictionary says Piao Liang means beautiful, I was speaking from experience.
If I met a girl and said either piao liang or mei li it would probably have the same effect, she'd get uncomfortable with my forwardness and would take off
I could complicate the sentence with something like "My feelings for you are purely love, you are the definition of beautiful." But that does not really do any good does it?
Mei Li would be the only suggestion I have. But its not that big a deal.
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posted
IIRC, according to the book Finding Serenity, Joss Whedon originally wanted Cantonese due to the parallel between the Cantonese diaspora and the people all leaving the Earth. That said, there was a miscommunication and they translated everything in Mandarin and since he did not notice for a while, they kept it. So the short answer is Mandarin.
That said, they mix it up every once in a while, the example that jumps out to my mind is the Cantonese life support warning in Out of Gas.
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From what I remember, Firefly 'Chinese' was mostly Mandarin. It sounded sorta made-up to me though. I am due to rerun the series for my girlfriend. She hasn't seen it. So I'll make sure to pay attention.
Yeah, I remember the life support warning too. I was very happy with it.
Posts: 1056 | Registered: Mar 2002
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quote: Japanese: Ai shiteru! Bijin desu yo! (I think I have that right.)
I think "aishiteru" is correct, but nine times out of ten what I've seen used is "suki desu." I know it's really more "like" instead of "love" but I just can't think of a real situation where I've heard someone use "aishiteru".
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
So I just asked my mom earlier today. And Tatiana conveniently bumps for me.
Mom agrees that 你好靚 nei5 hou2/hou3 leng3 does sound kinda childish, but could also be used between significant others. She actally specifically said male to female. Yeah, that makes sense because this version of pretty/beautiful doesn't usually apply to guys. Wait, it applies to guys when you add the word for guy after pretty. Then, it means 'good-looking guy'. But by itself it refers to females. I still think the phrase sounds strange but I'm not as fluent as my mother.
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I know it's really more "like" instead of "love" but I just can't think of a real situation where I've heard someone use "aishiteru".
It does get used. Sparingly, with the understanding that it carries all the implications of the word 'love.'
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Polish to female: Kocham cie, jestes sliczna
Polish to male: Kocham cie, jestes sliczny
Someone should make a list in a single post.
I agree with Lissande that informal is way more romantic. Can't really imagine saying something like Kocham Pana. Incidentally, you use informal in prayer, even if you address God as Lord.
Posts: 5700 | Registered: Feb 2002
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I went though, and I think these are the final versions for what's listed. Did it in a bit of a hurry (have to get to class), so please correct me if I missed anything. I used the male->female versions if more than one was given.
English: I love you! You're beautiful! Spanish: Te quiero! Eres muy linda! Hindi: Mein tumse pyaar karti hoon. Tum bohut khoobsurat ho. Gujurati: tu mahne bow gamu chu! tu bow sarus lagu chu! German: Ich liebe dich! Du bist schoen! French: Je t'aime, tu est belle! Latin: Te amo. Tu es formosa. Japanese: Ai shiteru! Bijin desu yo! Portuguese: Eu te amo. Voce e linda. Armenian: Kezi geh sirem! Tun keghetsig es! Hebrew: Ani Ohev Otach! At Yafa Meod! Dutch: Ik hou van jou! Je bent mooi. Greek: Σας αγαπώ. Είστε όμορφοι Italian: Ti amo. Sei bella Russian: Я люблю вас. Вы красивейши Navajo: Shí ayóó'íinish´ní ayor anosh'ni, t'áá ni nishshóní Frisian: Ik leavje dy! Do bist moai! Basque: Maite zaitut! Eder zaude. Czech: Miluju tě! Jsi krásná! Slovak: Milujem ťa! Si krásna! Albanian: Të dua! Ti je i bukur. Danish: Jeg elsker dig! Du er smuk. Klingon: qamuSHa'bI'IH Mandarin: 我爱你. 你很漂亮. Cantonese: 我愛你. 你好靚. Gaelic: Tá grá agam duit. Ta tú álainn. Romanian: te iubesc! Tu esti frumoasa! Polish: Kocham cie, jestes sliczna
Posts: 187 | Registered: Jan 2005
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posted
I modified the above list to group entries into rough linguistic families (any real linguists in the audience, please shut your eyes). <edited to add Arabic, Tagalog, Bengali, Sanskrit, Urdu, Esperanto, Quenyan, and ththla>
English: I love you! You're beautiful!
Basque: Maite zaitut! Eder zaude.
Gaelic: Tá grá agam duit. Ta tú álainn.
Catalan: T'estimo. Ets maca. Esperanto: Mi amas vin. vi estas bela. Portuguese: Eu te amo. Voce e linda. Spanish: Te quiero! Eres muy linda! Spanish (alt): Te quiero! Eres muy bella! Spanish (Castillian): Te quiero! Estas muy guapa! French: Je t'aime, tu es belle! Italian: Ti amo. Sei bella Latin: Te amo. Tu es formosa. Romanian: Te iubesc! Tu esti frumoasa! Albanian: Të dua! Ti je i bukur.
Dutch: Ik hou van jou! Je bent mooi. Frisian: Ik leavje dy! Do bist moai! German: Ich liebe dich! Du bist schoen! German (alt): Ich liebe dich! Du bist sehr hubsch! Danish: Jeg elsker dig! Du er smuk.
posted
In my opinion, the Spanish version should be "Te quiero! Eres muy bella!" instead of "...linda!". "Bella" is closer to beautiful, whereas "linda" is more like "cute" or "lovely".
Also, it could also be "Te amo!...". Every other Latin-like language seems to use an "amo" derivative (Portuguese, French, Italian, Latin, etc...).
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Nighthawk, I said the same thing on page one, but I was ignored. *shrug* What do we know . . . we only speak the language. Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Icarus: Nighthawk, I said the same thing on page one, but I was ignored. *shrug* What do we know . . . we only speak the language.
Oh, sorry... Well, I do admit I didn't read the entire thread. Hard to read a thread that has every other sentence in a foreign language.
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