Hello. I'm a new French learner who grew up speaking American English. One of the things that struck me as different is the connotations of "I love you" in English versus it's most common/direct translation in French which is "Je t'aime" and I'm interested in this phrases connotations in other languages as well.
In American English "I love you" can be said to close friends without the implication of "being in love" or romantic interest although it's also used for that as well and context has to be used to determine meaning. It's likely you would hear it from a friend you have known a short while to say I love you than for someone you just started dating to say it.
From my understanding in French, the phrase "Je t'aime" would only be said to romantic partners or people, such as family members or pets, where it's clear romantic intentions would never be expected. The expression would be amended to "Je t'aime beaucoup" (I love/like you a lot) or "Je t'aime bien" (I like you well <enough>) which would. In American English, a literal translation of the former would just emphasize how much you like someone (romantically or otherwise) while the later would seem almost backhanded.
Please let me know if I got any of the connotations wrong or if it differs in other dialects. I'm very interested in learning how a language you speak or are learning differs in how it uses similar phrases for expressing love.
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