"Just this once, we can't meet" can also translate to "I LOVE YOU."

Hello everyone. I'm copywriter Kotaro Abe. I currently work at Dentsu Inc.'s Content Business Design Center, planning and producing content.

This spring, Diamond Inc. published my book, 'Super Words That Capture Hearts: Essential Techniques Even Non-Copywriters Should Know'.

Even if you're not a copywriter, there are many people today whose work involves "words" – whether you're a bookseller, an online shop manager, a blogger, in sales, public relations, planning, or editing.

How can we turn "communicating" into "being understood"?

Drawing from workshops on copywriting held across Japan, and from my own experience leading the ongoing lecture series 'Making a Living Through Planning' at BUKATSUDO in Yokohama's Minato Mirai since 2015, I've compiled the "Ultimate Word Techniques" cultivated over these years into this single volume.

Many of you are likely working remotely now. With less face-to-face communication, haven't you also come to appreciate the importance of written words—whether in a single email or a proposal?

In this commemorative column series, I'll explore "Ultra-Effective Verbal Techniques to Capture Hearts," keeping the remote era in mind.
 

"How to Translate 'I LOVE YOU'"

That said, some of you might be thinking, "Writing copy? That's a bit beyond me..." Because, honestly, that's exactly how I used to feel.

Having spent eight years of my student life running around the field playing American football, I had arbitrarily decided that the creative and planning aspects of advertising were worlds away from me. I always use this topic in my lectures because I want to convey that "copy is actually all around us."

Natsume Sōseki translated "I LOVE YOU" as
as "The moon is beautiful, isn't it?"
How would you translate it today?

Natsume Soseki, who taught English. There's an urban legend that when a student translated "I LOVE YOU" as "I love you," he told them to just translate it as "The moon is beautiful, isn't it?"

Regardless of whether that's true, I believe that thinking of words to convey "love" without writing "love" is fundamental to creating copy.

When I was just starting out, I tried this kind of translation:

"Oh, your eraser fell."

This is the scene I pictured: A school classroom. A girl I'm interested in sits next to me. I'm not outgoing enough to casually strike up a conversation. I find myself glancing at her movements, noticing any slight change immediately.

Love is "Ah."
Isn't it about noticing?

If an eraser falls, you pick it up right away and hand it to her immediately. I still remember vividly how I translated it that way, awkwardly but with that image in mind.

How would you translate it now?
 

"Convey love without writing the word 'love'"

No one is unrelated to love. It's not just romantic love. There's parental love, marital love, and I believe friendship contains love too. You surely have experiences of feeling love, episodes seen or heard in movies and dramas, something that resonates within you.

I always tell people: don't pressure yourself to "write copy" or "come up with ideas." Just try to remember. Dive into your memories and recall those moments that made you go "Ah!"

How someone translates "I LOVE YOU" reveals their true character. Over the years, I've met people who translate it like this:

"Shall we split it?"

"I graduated, so I'm not a student anymore."

"It was all so I could meet you."

"Can we meet now?"

"I want to know more about you."

"I want to see the place we used to play when we were little."

Lately, considering the current situation,

"Just this once, I can't meet you."

There are scenes, warm feelings, and thoughts that surface. By choosing not to explicitly write "love," it truly lives up to the word "catchphrase"—it utterly captures our hearts.

Conveying without writing.

This seemingly contradictory act is, I believe, the very secret of words that capture the heart. I truly mean this without exaggeration.

Beyond just a translation challenge, I believe that as long as we live with words, the very foundation of all work involving language lies in "I LOVE YOU."

"I LOVE YOU"

"I" What is "I"? It means knowing oneself.

"LOVE" What is love? It means contemplating the relationships between people.

"YOU" What is you? That is, knowing the other person as seen from oneself.

Starting next time, I'll write about how to craft words effectively to capture people's hearts and nurture relationships between them.

Here is a comment I received from Mr. Yoshiki Mizuno (Ikimono-gakari, HIROBA), whom I met while exploring words:

"I want you to understand."
For those of you who have ever felt this way,
Abe-san's book is perfect for you.
That's why I want you to read it.

I'd be thrilled if this column, and my book 'The Ultimate Words That Capture Hearts: Essential Techniques Even Non-Copywriters Should Know', could lend even a little strength to that feeling of "I want to be understood." Thank you!