I have doubts about the correct use of that statement both in English and in German.

In Italian language we can say "ti amo" only to our partner, or less commonly to our parents, sisters and brothers; people who are in a very tight relationship with us, anyway. Surely we never use it for people of our same gender, especially if external to our family (of course, with the exception of homosexual relationships).
For friends and alike we use "ti voglio bene" which means "I love you" as well, but it's less meaningful and important than "ti amo".

In English, I could say "I love you" to my partner in love, to a friend of mine, to my daughter, to my mother... how can I express the same concept to one of my friends without receiving suspicious looks? How can I say the same thing to my mother without seeming incestuous?

The same is for the German "Ich liebe dich".

Full moon again !!!

In English you love your Mom, you like your friends

Perhaps for you is something taken for granted, but for me it's not, being grown in a culture which makes great difference between what you can say about your feelings to a friend and what you can say to your partner...

There is a difference linguistically.

You would say "ti voglio bene" or "quiero a mis padres" in both Italian and Spanish, in regards to family, but you would use the word "love" in English

otherwise, in regards to friends : ti voglio bene = like

Ti voglio tanto bene = I like you so much
Ti voglio bene Mammina = I love you Mom
Ti amo tesoro = I love you darling (as in romantically inclined !)

Whatever the words, the opponent will certainly appreciate it

That solves my doubt about English usage of this word, thank you.

In German, "to like" could be used in the same way saying "Ich mag dich"?

I was told 'mag' is used for food.
If I like something that's not food, it's 'gefaellt'.
German speakers, is that right?

I know that mögen can be used also for:
"Ich mag die Sonne" - "I like the sun"
"Ich mag Schwimmen" - "I like swimming"

"Ich mag dich" is pretty close to English "I like you," and it can be used for persons indeed.

"Gefallen," as suggested by argus, often means "to please," although matters are a bit more omplicated than with "mögen" and "lieben," but that's not the topic right now.

oh to your partner you can say just about anything, can't you. the whole wide bloody range of it and in all the languages you can think of too.

and ... sorry Ghaladh, I didn't mean to offend you.

Sorry, nothing to contribute liguistically, but has anyone thought of giving a warm hug when it doubt

I think it is safe, because it let's the recipient to decide whether it was filial love, homosexual love, platonic love, acting-fresh-kind-of-love or whatever

AFIK this should work across a wide range of cultures and languages

It could kill or harm you in an ultra-conservative culture though, especially between opposite sexes.

I think we could ask the OP for a picture to see if the charms worked or not.

Have you ever said I love you to someone you are not comfortable giving a hug

I only suggested hugging as a substitute to saying ILU, not as a license to go about liberally hugging people of opposite sex

My ex. grandma?

Just as long as the term isn't dispensed as one would with small loose change

One person's 'comfortable' is another person's 'too close for comfort'.
Reciprocity can never be assumed especially when it comes to romance.

I might say ILY to a guy but he might think I'm a stalker.

Anyway, this is a thread about words in English and German.

silly boy..

and Italian

If it was a male friend I would call him anything stronger than "mate"

Where I come from up North we might show affection by calling women and kids "Luv" or "Pet". But some Southern women might take offence at this

And I might kiss or hug a female friend but I'd never, ever, kiss a "mate"

I often used to say to my husband 'Ich habe dich Lieb'. He would be dissapointed because he would want me to say 'Ich liebe dich.' A linguistic difference I wasn't awear of. He says he uses 'Ich habe dich Lieb' with his mother and the more romantic 'Ich liebe dich' for me.