Love speaks the same language everywhere, made up of smiles and dreamy eyes. But the words used to express it change: let’s use Valentine’s Day for a short journey into the more romantic side of foreign languages.

Sticking, for now, to European languages only, let’s try to understand what an English, French, German or Spanish girlfriend or boyfriend expects on the most romantic day of the year.

English

In the English-speaking world Valentine’s Day is a big deal. It was in the United States, around 1850, that the traditional (but rather exclusive) love poems began to be replaced by printed cards, the “Valentines”. A brilliant piece of industry thinking that helped spark a global trend and did a great deal to turn the day into something for everyone.

We tracked down a wonderful gallery of old Valentines on Pinterest, collected on this board: https://www.pinterest.com/motherxmas/vintage-valentine/

We really do recommend taking a look, because they are delightful. From a linguistic point of view, then as now the central phrase is often “Be my Valentine”. Or “You’re my Valentine” – an English phrase that’s easy enough to work out, even if it doesn’t translate neatly into a single set phrase in everyday Italian.

Here are a few of the phrases you’ll find on those old Valentines in the gallery. They might give you some inspiration for a vintage-style declaration of your own:

• Come with me and be my Valentine.
• You “ring the bell” with me, Valentine.
• I’m waiting for your answer, Valentine.
• My heart’s broken right in two, all because I love you.

If you’d rather keep things simple, a “Happy Valentine’s Day” or a heartfelt “I love you” never leaves the person on the receiving end unmoved.

French

The French-speaking world produced the oldest Valentine in existence: it seems, in fact, that its author was Charles d’Orléans, who at the time was being held in the Tower of London after his defeat at the Battle of Agincourt (1415). Charles addresses his wife with the words: Je suis desja d’amour tanné, ma tres doulce Valentinée….

That said, as already mentioned, Valentines as a mass phenomenon are above all a product of the English-speaking world, and to find them in France too we have to wait for the modern greetings card. We’ll leave the French, though, to their reputation as a nation of heartbreakers, confident that they are never short of the right words for the sweetest of messages.

Take these, for example:

• Joyeuse fête mon Amour!
• Je t’aimerai pour toujours…
• Grâce à toi, ce jour est magique. Bonne Saint Valentin!

Do the adjective agreements (joyeuse, bonne) look strange to you? In French, the name of the feast of Saint Valentine is feminine. You say, in fact, Le jour de la Saint-Valentin.

Spanish

The Spanish Día de San Valentín is essentially the same as the one celebrated in other European countries, Italy included.
Anyone studying Spanish should know, however, that in many Latin American countries this occasion is also celebrated on different days or under different names.
In Bolivia, for example, it is celebrated on 21 September. In some countries it is simply called Día de los Enamorados, with no reference to the saint of Catholic tradition, or Día del Amor y la Amistad, with an exchange of gifts that can involve not just couples but also friends bound by a very close relationship.

If you’re in old Europe, though, you can use the more traditional greetings:

• Feliz Dia de San Valentin.
• Feliz San Valentin!
• Te amo con todo mi corazón.
• Cada dia te amo màs.

German

Austria and Germany have a delightfully sweet culinary tradition tied to Valentine’s Day: heart-shaped ginger biscuits, decorated with icing and romantic messages. They are, in fact, similar to the ones also made for Christmas, but for Valentinstag they are bigger, big enough to fit the sweetest of messages.
Besides the traditional biscuits, Germany also has cards, chocolates and everything else that goes with the European Valentine’s Day tradition. You’ll often find cute little pigs drawn on them: they’re considered good-luck charms, so you can buy and give them without any risk of being inappropriate or causing misunderstandings.

As for greetings, the most common are:

• Alles gute zum Valentinstag!
• Alles liebe zum Valentinstag!
• Ich liebe dich. Schönen Valentinstag.

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!