Prior to the Meiji Restoration (1868) marriages were arranged in order to match families of appropriate status. While there were certainly love affairs, there wasn’t a word for romantic love.
As the Japanese began to study the West, they needed words that were relatively equivalent to those they found in Western books. But what to do about this foreign concept of intimate romantic love?
Scholars of the day chose “ai” 愛 referring more, however, to an aesthetic love than something romantic. (Being scholars, one can imagine this might have seemed reasonable to them.)
Ai just never did seem to fit, though, so Japanese used an expression that was comfortable to them: anata ga suki desu. Now this is just fine unless you’re trying to say it in English, because it commonly translates to “I like you.” Not very romantic is it?
And what’s wrong with “ai?” Well, say some, it just seems too vulnerably intimate. (Better not be too risky here, right?)
But to the rescue comes an English “loan” word: ラブ “ra-bu.”
Hmmm. That doesn’t sound so romantic either, does it…
Actually, in keeping with the Japanese communication style of “Hear one, understand ten,” “I love you” is not something that should need verbalizing. It’s best expressed in the way a person acts. “Actions speak louder than words” and Japanese are well adept at see all those little things that show “I love you.”
At any rate, I hope you find ra-bu on Valentine’s Day.
