Re: Valentine's Day Translations

"I love you."

In Shemdaoli:

di(ze)'ankunn ti du.

The double n is pronounced like an ng.  The last syllable of di'ankunn
should be spoken in a high tone, while both ti and du are spoken in a low
tone.

Literally, the phrase means "I feel friend(ship) (emphatic) you."  The
Shemdaoli don't perceive the difference between love and friendship that
we might -- in fact, the act of sex is known as dizo, "to make use of a
friend" (in slang, you might see tizo, "make use of me" or duzo "make use
of you.")

The (ze) is the determinate (abstraction), which though strictly
grammatically necessary is, in practical usage, usually dropped,
particularly since "di" itself has practically grown into usage as a
determinate indicating a friendly person.  Thus one might address one's
friend Pasaudo (Pasau-person) as Pasaudi (Pasau-friend), although never
in formal writing or speaking.

--Patrick