Soul Mates in Chinese / Japanese...

It was tough to find the best way to say “soul mates” in Chinese. We settled on 天生一對 as an old way to say, “A couple selected by heaven.”

The first two characters together mean “natural” or “innate.” Separated, they mean “heaven” and “born.” The last two characters mean “couple.” So this can be translated as “A couple that is together by nature,” or “A couple brought together by heaven's decree.” With a slight stretch, you could say, “A couple born together from heaven.”

It's a struggle to find the best way to describe this idea in English but trust me, it is pretty cool, and it is a great way to say “soulmates.”

If you're in a happy relationship or marriage and think you have found your soul mate, this would be a wonderful wall scroll to hang in your home.

靈魂伴侶 is the literal translation of “Soul Mates.”

This is kind of the western way to express “soul mates” but translated into Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja.
The first two characters mean “soul” or “spirit.”
The second two characters mean “mate,” “companion” or “partner.”

Although not the most common title, these characters have good meaning and will be received well in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. It's a universal title!

魂の伴侶 is a Japanese-only title for soulmates.

魂 means soul, spirit, immortal soul (the part of you that lives beyond your physical body), or the conscious mind. In the Buddhist context, this is vijñāna or viññāṇa (consciousness, life force, or mind).

の is a possessive article that connects everything here.

伴侶 means mates, companions, partners, and spouses.

精神伴侶 means “Spiritual Soul Mates.” The first two characters mean “spiritual” or “soul.” The second two characters mean “mates,” “companions,” or “partners.”

This is more about the spiritual connection between partners rather than a “fate-brought-us-together” kind of soul mates.

Both halves of this title have meaning in Japanese but I've not yet confirmed that this is a commonly used title in Japan.

魂の友 is one of a few ways to write “Soul Mates” in Japanese.

The first Kanji means soul, spirit, ghost, immortal soul, the mind, or conscious mind. From Sanskrit, it's Vijñāna.

The middle character is a Japanese Hiragana connecting or possessive article that links the two ideas together.

The last Kanji means friends or friendship.

親友 is the Japanese way to say “best friend.”

The first character can mean “relative” or sometimes “parents.” The second character means “friend.” Think about the close relationship that Japanese people have with their parents and relatives, and this starts to mean “close friends.”

Some Japanese-English dictionaries also translate this as “bosom friend,” “old friend,” “intimate friend,” “buddy,” “crony” or “chum.”

Note that in Chinese, this means “relatives and friends.” It's a good meaning in Chinese, but it's not quite the same as “best friends.”

永遠の友 is a Japanese phrase about eternal friendship.

The first two characters mean eternal, eternity, perpetuity, forever, immortality, and permanence.

The third character is a possessive article which sort of makes this selection mean “Love, of the eternal kind.”

The last character is “friend” or “Friendship.”

See Also:  Best Friends

永遠的朋友 means friends that are eternal or a friendship that will last forever - you will remain the best of friends as long as you live.

The first two characters mean forever, eternal, eternity, perpetuity, immortality, and/or permanence.

The middle character links the words (it's a possessive article).

The last two characters represent friendship, or simply “friends.”

心の伴侶 is a Japanese-only title for soulmates.

心 means heart, soul, mind, core, or center. In ancient times, the heart was believed to be the mind or center of your soul and being.

の is a possessive article that connects everything here.

伴侶 means mates, companions, partners, and spouses.

This Japanese version of soulmates is about two partners, coupled or joined by their hearts.