Well…
Kirei na me ga arimasu ne. would be something like, “There are pretty eyes.”
Kimi was kirei na me wo shiteiru ne. on the other hand would be something like, “My you are sporting some pretty eyes!” Technically correct, but a bit divorced. The ending “ne” wouldn’t probably be there as that sort of indicates a question (Japanese just say a lot of things with a hint of question.)
I would probably use, Anata no me ga…utsukushii.
In a language like Japanese that has pronouns but refuses to use them, sometimes I just have to wonder how they know who they’re talking about. It’s easy to come up with scenarios where this leads to disaster.
Before a road trip, Yoshi says to Ikeda: “Got to have batteries. Do batteries exist?” (wanting to know: Do you have the batteries?)
Ikeda answers: “Yes, exist.” (thinking: I’m pretty sure I saw Matsuo getting them)
"Does two-way radio exist?
“Yes, exists.” (saw one at Radio Shack, I’ll buy it one of these days)
“Excellent, good to go.”
In the middle of the night on a lonely road they break down with no batteries for the flashlight and no radio either.
I disagree. Ne doesn’t indicate a question, it begs agreement. “You have pretty eyes, don’t you.” It’s not necessary, but the nuance is that it’s a statement you cannot help agreeing with. By contrast ending the sentence with yo, carries the nuance that someone might disagree; it’s something you might say to someone with low self-esteem. “I think your eyes are pretty.”
I stand by my ne.
I don’t like this one because anata is overused by westerners who aren’t quite perfectly fluent. Because of its higher level of formality versus kimi, I imagine a middle aged woman talking to a man, or two people who don’t know each other. Utsukushii is very elated, and in general Japanese like understatement, which makes it much more powerful than the original English.
If I was going for a strong effect, I think I’d use:
**** san, me ga utsukushii.*
It’s important here to look deeply into the other person’s eyes, and to pause for a beat after saying the person’s name.
My first suggestion aimed for a more light-hearted tone.
No.
Ðôi = somewhere between “doughey” and “soy” (level tone)
măt = muck (final consonant not really pronounced but feels like a ck - level tone)
cu?a = coo-ah (falling then rising tone)
em = em (level tone)
đẹp = dehp (as in Johnny Depp - falling constricted tone)
quá = wah (rhymes with spa - rising tone)
Aren’t you glad you asked? Ask a native speaker to say it for you, it’s so much easier than it looks here. Try this page to hear samples of the tones.
I’ve been teaching myself Java – let’s see how this comes out:
class You {
public You() { _eyes = "beautiful"; }
private String _eyes;
public getEyes() { return _eyes; }
}
On preview, not too bad, I think. There are some subtle implications here: you are in a class by yourself, and your eyes have been beautiful ever since you came into existence. It’s obvious - anyone can see it - and that’s just how it is, no one could change it, even if they wanted to.
Pretty good for Geek, huh?
Not always. It depends on its position in a word as well as the letter(s) it appears next to or before. If at the end of a word, for example, it’s not nasalized. Wąsy (moustache) is [vɔ̃sɨ] – i.e. nasalized – but, say, kąt (corner/edge) and pięć (five) are [kɔnt] and [pʲɛ̃ɲt͡ɕ] respectively, i.e. no nasalization.
(Those who haven’t got the IPA font Doulos SIL installed will understand nothing of the above.)
As for the Polish phrases ‘masz ładną dupę’ (‘you have a nice ass’) and ‘masz ładne oczy’ (I prefer ‘ładne’ to ‘piękne’ — semantic thing), they’re pronounced (in somewhat inadequate English transcription):
• masz ładne oczy = mosh 'wad-ne 'ochee = IPA: [maʃ 'wadnɛ 'ɔt͡ʃɨ]
• masz ładną dupę= mosh 'wadnâw 'doope = IPA: [maʃ 'wadnɔ̃ 'dupɛ] (the ‘âw’ in ‘wadnâw’ rhymes with eg Eng. awe, raw, saw, etc.)
That sounds like a question to me in English as well…
Kimi is sexist though (talking down.) I know it’s not taught that way, but watching it in use, these days I can’t help but cringe when Japanese guys switch to using kimi. It might not be what 80% of Japanese would use, but I don’t think a guy who was actually a romantic would use it to address his love.
Sitting at a table of Japanese where regardless of what they put in their mouth, they all sit there, “Ah, umai ne!” “Umai nee.” “Nee” “Ah, kore mo oishii!” “Oishii nee!” “O! Oishi! Honto!” I have to disagree. The food itself could be 100 yen gyouza and taste like fish poo, but if someone’s there eating with them you’d swear that it’s the tastiest food they’ve ever swallowed.
That works for me (and resolves kimi/anata wars.)
Some people use it, some don’t. It’s true some people dislike it, but some guys do use it in a romantic situation.
But that’s food, the topic where people pour out all pent-up passion. It’s a cliche, but it’s true that when romantic issues are concerned, Japanese people overwhelmingly prefer subdued expression. An American might tell his wife casually “I love you” before going to work, but a Japanese man would never say “ai shiteru” in the same situation. That doesn’t mean that he loves his wife any less, though.
“Well, I don’t care what everybody says, I think your eyes are pretty”
In the local Arabic, we use “You have the eyes of a mare.”
Thai (and I’m transliterating here, because they use a different alphabet): “Khun mee daa suay.”
What? German was in the Original Post.
Nitpick: Two wars.
Update on the Thai: The U in “khun” is pronounced like the “oo” in the English word “cool.” So it might be better rendered: “Khoon mee daa suay.” Don’t EVEN get me started on correct tones.
In Soviet Russia, beautiful eyes have YOU!
Yeah, well, in Thailand, too. 
The real issue is not kimi vs. anata, it’s pronoun vs. non-pronoun. That is to say, “kimi wa kirei na me wo shite iru ne” and “anata wa kirei na me wo shite iru ne” are both stilted, because in natural speech, you would leave out the pronoun entirely. One of the greatest barriers for a Western speaker of Japanese to break through is becoming comfortable with abandoning his dependence on pronouns.
So it should be:
kirei na me wo shiteru ne. (“shiteru” being a contraction of “shite iru”)
A native speaker would be just as likely to say simply “kirei na me da ne,” or “me ga kirei da ne.”
This is a bit off the mark. It is very common for an older man to call a younger man “kimi,” if they have a close relationship. Older women also call younger men “kimi.” It is also not uncommon for boyfriends and girlfriends to call each other “kimi.” It can be condescending in some contexts, but usually in an affectionate way. But usually it is plenty romantic, as you can see in countless pop songs and television melodramas.
However, you do often see older men using “kimi” toward younger women with whom they have no close personal relationship. This has certainly always come off as sexist to me, kind of like calling the woman “darlin’” or “honey.” It’s especially so in a professional setting.
Forgive me for nitpicking, but this is one of my few areas of expertise.
I for one welcome our beautiful eyed overlords.
Irish:
tá súile áille agat.
Although the grammar is probably all wrong.
There’s a much trickier problem in language learning than getting the grammar wrong–
It’s when you get the grammar technically right, except that no one actually talks that way.