# You Only Live Once



## WyvernWitch

My Family is from Romania originally but no one speaks the language anymore... the last family member that spoke it fluently just died and I want to get a tattoo of her favorite phrase which is "You Only Live Once" 

I would prefer it to be either the translation of that phrase or its Romanian colloquial equivalent (even if its meaning is somewhat different but Romanians would be more likely to use it in context) If it is a colloquialism I would very much like to know what the English translation would be 

Thanks so much! 
~*Wyvern*~


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## OldAvatar

The Romanian equivalent would be: _O viață avem!_ meaning *We only have one life!*
However, think twice about the tatoo, it might look cool to an American, but I reckon that it looks pretty bizarre to a Romanian, not to say more.


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## WyvernWitch

in all honesty while i would really like to visit Romania the closest I'm probably going to come is the internet and my family (none of whom speak anyway) thanks for the tip though!


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## WyvernWitch

I had a quick question... is O viață avem an actual phrase that would be used or is it just a translation of the english and not a phrase that would be used? I only ask because you said it would look strange to a Romanian and I wasn't sure if that was referring to the tattoo in general or that phrase specifically


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## Fanny_d

_O viață avem! _or_ Doar __o viață avem! _are phrases used in day to day communication.


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## JoAnne van Heff

WyvernWitch said:


> I had a quick question... is O viață avem an actual phrase that would be used or is it just a translation of the english and not a phrase that would be used?



It is an actual phrase that we use, not a translation of the English. 
The translation of "O viață avem" is "One life we have" - "We only have one life."


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## farscape

The expression ”Trăim numai odată” is also used and is pretty much the original ”We live only once”.

Colloquial though, very often one will use ”O viaţa are omul! ” (meaning ”Each man has only one life to live”) and in my opinion is the closest to the meaning of ”We live only once”

Best,


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## OldAvatar

WyvernWitch said:


> I had a quick question... is O viață avem an actual phrase that would be used or is it just a translation of the english and not a phrase that would be used? I only ask because you said it would look strange to a Romanian and I wasn't sure if that was referring to the tattoo in general or that phrase specifically



I was reffering to this particular tattoo's message. However, perhaps I should add that tattoo culture is still in an incipient phase in Romania.


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## susanna76

Hi there,

I would say 

Trăim numai o dată (pay attention here: "o dată" should be two words)

or

Avem o singură viaţă


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