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In books that I've come across and even in dictionaries, I've seen the word
「好きな」 translated as "favorite". I'm a little confused by this because 「好きです」
normally gets translated as "like", or in my mind, "is liked".

I'm wondering what is the Japanese idea behind the word 「好き」. For instance, in
English, the ideas of "like", "love", and "favorite" all have a relationship,
but at the same time are different. So I can say I _like_ the colors red,
blue, green, and yellow, and I _love_ (especially like) the colors red and
blue, but I can only say my _favorite_ color is blue. There can only be one
favorite since the idea itself implies that it is _the_ #1 most liked thing.

When we were in school, if the teacher asked, "What is your favorite color,"
and you proceeded to rattle off a list of multiple colors, you would be
corrected; the teacher would say, "Those are all colors that you _like_ , but
which one do you like _the most_?"

In Japanese, I understand that you have the terms 「好き」, 「大好き」, and 「一番好き」.
When I look up 「好き」 on
[Kotobank](https://kotobank.jp/jeword/%E5%A5%BD%E3%81%8D), I see it translates
「好きな詩」 as "one's favorite poem". But how can this be translated as your
_favorite_ poem? Shouldn't 「好きな詩」 just be a poem that you _like_? Wouldn't
your favorite poem be 「一番好きな詩」?

Returning to the color example, if someone asked 「好きな色は何ですか？」, would you
respond with only one color, or would it also be acceptable to respond with
more than one color?
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2014-10-23T17:55:36.017
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2014-10-27T00:18:55.080
2014-10-27T00:18:55.080
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question
translation usage nuances
Does 好きな really mean "favorite"?
「好きな～」 generally corresponds to "～ which one likes", and one can safely have
multiple 好きな色 and 好きな食べ物.

> 好きな色は赤と黒です。

Some E-J dictionaries say "favorite" is " **特に** 好きな" or " **大** 好きな", which
means the English adjective "favorite" is usually stronger than 好きな. And as
far as I know, English has no single-word adjective which exactly matches 好きな.
I think "favorite" is sometimes chosen because it is not practical to
translate 好きな as "which I like" every time you see it.
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2014-10-26T05:40:19.147
19269
2014-10-26T05:40:19.147
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answer