That’s very confusing for everyone except East Asians!
Their “like” is much nearer to “love” than in all the rest of the world.
If I, as a European person, say “I like” a person, it’s either I like them as a friend or colleague, or if it is (potential) a romantic partner, it’s a rather shallow feeling, something you feel at the start of a relationship, which may or may not develop into something deeper, i.e. love.
But in Korean, Chinese and Japanese, saying “I like you” is a love confession to be taken seriously, because it expresses deep feelings. I’ve heard, in a Korean drama: “I like you. Will you marry me?”
They reserve the verb “love” for very serious and passionate things.
So there is a sort of discrepancy in the levels it expresses.
In Italian we fortunately have three, not two, ways of expressing this thing.
We have “mi piaci” (I like you), also used for objects, foods and hobbies, which for another person means a very shallow feeling, mostly liking this person’s appearance and general personality, nothing much. Just enough to want to hang out with the person, maybe make out or have sex, but no further. You would never say “mi piaci” and then make a marriage proposal. Never!
Then we have “ti voglio bene”, which can be used for lovers, for friends and for family (that’s what you say to your kid). In the south of Italy it is equivalent to “I love you” even in a romantic way (as documented by famous Neapolitan songs), but in the North of the country they don’t use it for passionate love.
And then of course we have “ti amo”, I love you, which is never used for objects, foods, friends or family (unlike English, where you can “love” strawberries: in Italian using the verb “amare” for this would be ridiculous).
That’s the editor’s curse, my friend. Your choices are not always clear cut and sometimes there’s not a clear rule either, that each time you find X word you translate with Y. One needs to make decisions based on context, sometimes on feeling. Something “feels more right”
CHART:
Chinese:
wǒ xǐhuan nǐ / wǒ (hěn) xǐhuān nǐ! = I like you
Wǒ ài nǐ = I love you
Japanese:
Suki/Sukì desu/Sukì Da = I like you (different levels of formality)
Aishiteru = I love you [How often have you heard this one in dramas? Maybe never]
Korean:
joahae/joahaeyo/joahamnida = I like you (casual/polite/formal speech)
sarang hae/sarang haeyo/ sarang hamnida = I love you (casual/polite/formal speech)
Here is the take of a Chinese person from Quora:
I have a feeling that it is more natural to say “I like you”, instead of “I love you”, in a face to face situation… After all, hearing someone say “I love you” is a little bit “shocking”…
In Mandarin, we would say “I like you very much” to mean “love”. To say 我爱你 “I love you” is way too ardent and borders on the flippant…writing it down in a card is acceptable though.
There is a cultural difference between the English meaning of “like” and “love”, comparing to the Chinese ones.
In a lot of asian cultures, including the Chinese, “love” is more literary in describing great, undying love like a mother’s love towards her children, our love and appreciation towards Mother Earth, the great love between the star-crossed lovers in history…etc; it is not used in oral expression to express your fondness towards another person. “like” or “喜欢”, in this scenario is more appropriate.
However, due to the western influence, “love” is gaining popularity, and is now often used in cards, literary pieces, or novels. Still, it is not used in a face to face situation, it’s too… intimidating, almost scary.
It’s kind of like telling the other person that you are ready to marry him/her and spend the rest of ETERNITY with him/her, on the first attemp to tell him/her how you feel about the person. It puts the person on the spot, and forces them to run like hell and perhaps avoid you like disease in the future.
Not recommended. 