Does the Japanese word for "love" have different connotations than it does in America?


I've been watching a lot of anime lately, and in nearly all the anime where a
character proclaims that they "love" another character, I am confident that an
American in the same situation would say they have a crush on someone or that
they "like" someone, rather than "love".

I doubt this is a simple translation mistake, as it's consistently occurred in
at least a dozen different anime.

So, in Japan, can "love" mean something slightly different, maybe something
along the lines of "I'm attracted to you and I want to become closer to you"?




The direct equivalent of "love" is **愛** ( _ai_ ) in Japanese, and this is a
very big word -- perhaps even bigger than English "love". English people often
say "I love pizza", "I love New York" and so on, but Japanese people very
rarely use 愛 with inanimate things. Even between two people, 愛 is generally
thought to be something they gradually gain months after beginning a romantic
relationship. Some western people living in Japan use 愛 too casually, which
sometimes even embarrasses Japanese people.

There is another word, **恋** ( _koi_ ), which can also be translated as
_love_. "I fell in love with someone (at first sight)" is 恋に落ちた, not 愛に落ちた.
See: [Love in the air: 愛ｘ恋 {あい vs
こい}](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/2246/5010) However, 恋 still is a bit
literary word; we do not say 恋 out loud very often when gossiping. When people
casually say "You have a thing for her?" or "He has a crush on her", 恋 rarely
appears, either.

Instead, **好き** ( _suki_ ) is used all the time in such casual conversations,
and this word literally means _to like_. This is a very handy expression; in a
situation where English speakers may say "I'm in love with him", Japanese
people often get away with just using 好き.

So in conclusion, the concept of _love_ is different in Japanese; there are at
least three common words to refer to it. You seem to feel Japanese people
overuse the word _love_ , but I feel it's the other way around. Japanese
people do not frequently use 愛 or 恋 in "girl talks", so it's probably the
translators who needs to add the word _love_ to make sentences more natural to
the English-speaking audience.

I think this article is good: [KOKUHAKU: JAPAN'S "LOVE CONFESSING"
CULTURE](https://www.tofugu.com/japan/kokuhaku-love-confessing-japan/)




The direct equivalent of "love" is **愛** ( _ai_ ) in Japanese, and this is a
very big word -- perhaps even bigger than English "love". English people often
say "I love pizza", "I love New York" and so on, but Japanese people very
rarely use 愛 with inanimate things. Even between two people, 愛 is generally
thought to be something they gradually gain months after beginning a romantic
relationship. Some western people living in Japan use 愛 too casually, which
sometimes even embarrasses Japanese people.

There is another word, **恋** ( _koi_ ), which can also be translated as
_love_. "I fell in love with someone (at first sight)" is 恋に落ちた, not 愛に落ちた.
See: [Love in the air: 愛ｘ恋 {あい vs
こい}](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/2246/5010) However, 恋 still is a bit
literary word; we do not say 恋 out loud very often when gossiping. When people
casually say "You have a thing for her?" or "He has a crush on her", 恋 rarely
appears, either.

Instead, **好き** ( _suki_ ) is used all the time in such casual conversations,
and this word literally means _to like_. This is a very handy expression; in a
situation where English speakers may say "I'm in love with him", Japanese
people often get away with just using 好き.

So in conclusion, the concept of _love_ is different in Japanese; there are at
least three common words to refer to it. You seem to feel Japanese people
overuse the word _love_ , but I feel it's the other way around. Japanese
people do not frequently use 愛 or 恋 in "girl talks", so it's probably the
translators who needs to add the word _love_ to make sentences more natural to
the English-speaking audience.

I think this article is good: [KOKUHAKU: JAPAN'S "LOVE CONFESSING"
CULTURE](https://www.tofugu.com/japan/kokuhaku-love-confessing-japan/)

