Eli5: Why does it seem like Japanese often translates from English phonetically (camera = カメラ ‘kamera’) while Chinese seems to translate conceptually (照相机 ‘zhao xiang ji’ is literally “photo taking machine”)
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This is called a semantic calque and it used to be used in Japanese. They were used alongside a system called ateji (当字) which used the on-yomi of kanji to approximate sounds in borrowed words. They both fell out of favor after the postwar language reforms, with katakana superseding both in most cases. Lots and lots of Japanese semantic calques still exist, though — the days of the week, lots of scientific terms, and geographic names like the Pacific Ocean (太平洋).
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