In Madrid it’s freezing cold, it’s great to have a day to celebrate love and spread warmth amongst your dear ones. Valentine’s day may be controversial for some of you, but let’s forget the commercial side of it and have a look at its roots!
The truth is, little is known about St. Valentine, we don’t even know which of the many St.Valentines we are actually commemorating! Believe it or not, there were as many as 14 martyred saints of ancient Rome called Valentine. However, what we do know is that St. Valentine was buried on February 14 on the Via Flaminia, an ancient road that leads from Rome to Rimini.
So the fact is that St. Valentine’s Day does not have romantic roots whatsoever. Luckily, love doesn’t rely on historical facts to create legends and so it happened that in the Middle Ages the story of St. Valentine was romanticised. Legend has it that St. Valentine was a priest in the times of the Roman Emperor Claudius II (213 –270 AD). The Emperor had forbidden marriage in order to create a strong army of single warriors focused on war and nothing else but war. Priest Valentine fought for love instead and resisted the order of Claudius II by secretly marrying young couples.
And this is how we got to celebrate the day of love. To get you in the mood, we are featuring a special Valentine’s unit! Try it out now and find out how to say “I am crazy about you” in the language you are learning. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a bilingual relationship or not, our Valentine’s unit will surely come in very handy for you: Surprise your partner with love declarations in as many as twelve languages!
Have a look at our special busuu.com I-love-you list in all the languages we offer:
Ich liebe dich
Te quiero
Je t’aime
Ti amo
Eu amo você
Я тебя люблю
Kocham cię
Seni seviyorum
أُحِبُّكَ.
わたし は あなた を あいしています
我爱你
I love you
Do you know how to say “I love you” in another language than those listed above? Feel free to add more “I love yous” to our list! And if you have a special Valentine story to share, we’d love to hear that too!
