What's your love language? A very scientific investigation

Anna Allgaier

10.02.22 (updated more than 1 year ago)

5 minute read

A couple of years back, a global travel website conducted a poll to find the “sexiest accent in the world". Guess who came on top? The Kiwis. Followed by the South Africans and then the Irish. If you’re surprised by this outcome, you’re wrong and I disagree with you. Anyway, this got us thinking….

We all have a soft spot for a specific language or accent that makes us go “well, hey there?” Special shoutout to Antonio Banderas for fuelling my love of Spanish.

So we did some digging and came across a group of swoon-worthy languages that are referred to as “The Romance Languages". They derive from Vulgar Latin (not so romantic) and are spoken by over 900 million people worldwide. We took a look at the top six. So, what are they?

Spanish

Portuguese

French

Italian

Romanian

Catalan

With Valentine’s Day fast approaching it would just be plain rude if we didn’t look into how each language-group expresses their love. So we sat down with some of our fellow Wiser’s who speak these lingos to find out more. Here we go…

Roses are red

Violets are blue,

Sending money with low fees,

Is what we do

Spanish

date-night-spain
Spanish is spoken in multiple locations, so we’ve pulled a few golden nuggets from our Spanish and Argentinian colleagues to get you fluent in this language of love.

💘
Romantic saying	Te quiero mucho, como la trucha al trucho. This is about to be your new favourite expression. In Spanish this directly translates to "I love you a lot, like the female trout loves a male trout". Yes, you read that right. This saying stems from the legend of a female trout eating a male trout after she paired with him as a sign of fidelity. Scary, sensual, so confusing.
Pick up line	Hola, soy un ladrón, y estoy aquí para robar tu corazón Literally, “hello I’m a thief and I’m here to steal your heart". Naughty
Romantic song	Daddy Yankee - Gasolina… Not really, please don’t play this on Valentine’s Day. Go for Thalia & Pedro Capó - Estoy Enamorado
Romantic dining spot	Sol San Javier Spa Eco Resort in Tucumán, Argentina It’s beautiful, it’s in Argentina, there’s really nothing much else to say here
Valentine’s traditions	In Argentina it is common practice for couples to celebrate by going to a fancy restaurant, buying each other cheesy presents (the usual suspects; flowers, chocolates, teddies) and renting a hotel/motel for the night. And when we say motel, we don’t mean your standard dingy one star pad. Think Japanese love hotels 🏩

Portuguese

date-night-portugal
Like our Spanish speaking buddies, Portuguese is also spoken in multiple locations, so we’ve picked the brains of our Brazilian and Portuguese Wisers who have delighted us with fun facts such as “If you want to flirt in Brazil it's common practice to use memes or WhatsApp stickers".

💘
Romantic saying	Te amo - I love you in Brazil and Amo-te if you’re in Portugal It’s cute, it’s simple, it’s to the point
Pick up line	Me chama de Receita Federal e se declara pra mim Roughly translated this means "call me taxes and declare yourself to me". Who said romance was dead?
Romantic song	Eu Sei que Vou Te Amar - Tom Jobim & Vinicius de Moraes I don’t know what the lyrics mean, but I’ve been assured this is one to boogie to
Romantic dining spot	Terrazza 40, in Curitiba, Paraná If you’re feeling fancy and want a beautiful city view head to Terazza 40 to wine, dine and feel fine
Valentine’s traditions	In Brazil, V-day is celebrated on June 12th, because it's one day before Santo Antônio's day, the Saint known for bringing love. Fun fact: In Brazil, women who want to find a boyfriend are told to hang a small statue of the Saint upside down. When celebrating, Brazilians go out for dinner and book a hotel, Airbnb or “motel". cough, cough. In Portugal they have a series of traditions ranging from plucking petals from a marigold, crossing your fingers, wishing on shooting stars and sending love letters. Adorable

French

date-night-france
Arguably a language that was designed for romance, the French can do no wrong.

💘
Romantic saying	As much as I wanted to put a renowned Lady Marmalade lyric in here we’ve gone for Je t'aime à la folie (I love you crazily) instead
Pick up line	Ton père est un voleur: il a volé toutes les étoiles du ciel pour les mettre dans tes yeux Or, “your dad is a thief, he stole all the stars to put them in your eyes". It’s cute, it’s sweet, just make sure you’re already close to the person you’re saying this to
Romantic song	Je l'aime à mourir - Francis Cabrel
Romantic dining spot	Restaurant L'Oustau de Baumanière, in Les Baux-de-Provence. Pull out all the stops at this michelin starred eatery overlooking the alpine mountains. PS. There’s cheese. So much lovely cheese
Valentine’s traditions	This is one from the past. We don’t know how accurate it is, but oh my do we love it and it’s on the internet so it must be true. Traditionally, Valentine’s Day was celebrated with “une loterie d’amour". This is a custom where single people would stand outside their homes and yell out to other single folk until people found matches. Single women who were left without a match would then get together and burn pictures of the men who abandoned them. This was all eventually banned by the French government. Please bring it back

Italian

date-night-italy

💘
Romantic saying	Ti amo - I love you Cute, thanks
Pick up line	In true Italian fashion, our Wiser did not just give us a pick up line, but a poem by Italo Calvino. We’ll let you google translate this one. Pop it in a card if you’re shy or memorise it and say it to your loved one over dinner: Si conobbero. Lui conobbe lei e se stesso, perché in verità non s’era mai saputo. E lei conobbe lui e se stessa, perché pur essendosi saputa sempre, mai s’era potuta riconoscere così
Romantic song	Honestly, you could say anything in Italian and it would sound like a serenade but if you’re looking for atual lyrics of love… here you go: L'emozione non ha voce - Adriano Celentano
Romantic dining spot	La Pineta Ristorante, in Marina, Liguria Sit down for beachfront views and seafood, moments away from the wine town of Bolgheri
Valentine’s traditions	Italians keep it traditional on Valentine’s day with a nice dinner out or a weekend booking at a Spa. Expect chocolates and flowers too. (I’d prefer a carbonara but fine)

Romanian

date-night-romania

The underdog of the “Romance language” list. Some may not expect to see Romanian here but rest assured, it sounds all kinds of lovely.

💘
Romantic saying	Te iubesc - I love you You’ve made it this far into the article so we’ll give you a bonus word: Dragul meu (male), draga mea (female) - My dear
Pick up line	Poți să-mi spui încotro trebuie să merg pentru a ajunge la inima ta? “Can you tell me which direction I should go in to get your heart?” Yes, yes I can
Romantic song	Să nu-mi iei niciodată dragostea - Holograf
Romantic dining spot	Poarta Sarutului The kiss gate is a stone sculpture made by Constantin Brâncuși. Pack up a picnic and have a smooch near the arches
Valentine’s traditions	In Romania they have their own Valentine’s Day called Dragobete which is celebrated on the 24th of February

Catalan

date-night-catalonia

💘
Romantic saying	T'estimo - I love you
Pick up line	Like in love, sometimes we get let down. And I’m afraid we’re going to be doing that here because we couldn’t hunt a Catalonian pick up line down. Do you have one? Flirt with us on social media and let us know
Romantic song	Boig per tú - Sau Boig per tú means crazy for you, which leaves us thinking how great it would be to hear Beyonce’s “crazy in love” in this language
Romantic dining spot	Restaurant Mirablau, in Barcelona What if I were to tell you you could have an amazing view of Barcelona while eating an unhealthy amount of patatas bravas?
Valentine’s traditions	Valentine’s Day has risen in popularity recently for the Catalans and they usually celebrate it by cooking something at home, going for a nice meal or spending a night at a Spa

German

Just kidding. (To all the German lovers out there, I’m German too, therefore, I can make this joke. Ich liebe dich).

At Wise, our love language is low fees. If you’re looking to send money across borders, check us out. And if you’re looking to further educate yourself on global dating, take a trip to our article on the top international dating apps.

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