In USA and in other English native countries, seems the phrase "I love you" can be used in many situations: friend to friend, parents to kids, brother to brother, brother to sister....ect and especial between two lovers. In my country, this phrase just use for couples who are in love, and for parents to their very small children. I have a closed friend, who lived long time in France, just came back to visit homeland after 15ys. We've met and at the end he said "I love you" to me in Vietnammese . For me, it's egal because at least, I used to live in Europe, and I understood what he meant, but for my little son was problem, he was giggling all the way home, and then told this to his mom with very excited discoved :lol: In fact, I will feel so wierd if my brother said to me "I love you !" too :lol: (in Vietnamese, ofcouse). All of us we know well what does it mean "I love you" and "Miluji te", but I am not sure that you can say that to your "pritel" if you were a man, and to your "pritelkine" if you were a woman in Czech. Every comment will be welcome !
Actualy, there was a few threads about this topic allready: http://www.myczechrepublic.com/boards/v ... 36&start=0 http://www.myczechrepublic.com/boards/v ... php?t=2311
My step-daughter just said this weekend that although English is her second language, she prefers to speak English because it has more feeling. She brought up that she can say "I love you" to her children. But she said it doesn't stop there. There are just so many more ways in English to describe how you feel in English rather than in Czech.
I thought your step-daughter was right, Katko. "I love you" in English can make many senses in other languages. In English you just say only "I love you" but meaning being understood by contexts. In my English-Vietnamese dictionary showed all meanings of "love" in Vietnamese, but really difficult to get a fitting word from them in brotherhood or best friendship ect. I watched some E.speaking movies, and some men talked "I love you." to some others, and they answered "I love you too." :lol: I understood well that not meaning what I translated into Vietnamese in my mind, but it couldn't keep me feel so funny. _________________ "Vlk zmrzl, zhltl čtvrthrst zrn." Doman je doma !
There are four forms of love according to the Ancient Greeks.(from where much of our philosophies and ways come) The four loves http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_words_for_love For all of these, the word love, is used, and the meaing is just known or taken from context, and if it is misunderstood, well that can lead to broken hearts. Greek.... storge philia eros agape English... Affection Friendship Eros(romantic) Charity
Beat me, but I think there are so many uses for the word "love" in English, because the word is being simply abused in English. "Miluji tě" is a very strong expression in Czech, thus saved for rare occasions. One really thinks twice before saying that and you can be sure something really serious is going on upon hearing it. But in English? - A few decades will pass and I bet the American women will start throwing "I love you" 's around themselves for being held a door to a shop open by a random stranger. How do you express "miluji tě" in English? Well, you only have one choice, closest in its meaning: "I love you." But due to this phrase's frequent use on so many occasions, it sounds common, perhaps even pathetic; a cliche you have heard a dozen times today (in English). I also disagree that one has fewer options to express various kinds of emotions in Czech. I think all these different sensitive words are just not used as often as thy are used in English, that's all. IMHO this is partly the same story as that of "I love you" (use the right words in the right places, do not abuse them), but partly it comes from the fact that the Czechs are ... well, not the most sentimental beings on Earth. It is well-known that we are a nation of intactile people. And in my opinion this emotional distance doesn't end there - it is reflected in the use of the language as well (much more vividly actually). Because of that, the Czechs do not use strongly expressive words so often, but the vocab is there. Swearing is an exception to this discretion though... :lol:
Yep. I agree. A dozen years ago or so, when I was in the Czech Republic, there seemed to be a trend to trivialize this expression, specifically among the teens and 20-ish crowd (now in their 20's and 30's), similar to what has happened in English. Many of the "older" generation often complained about this. I'm not sure if this trend has continued or not.
