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”)

Question

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”)

In: Other

Answer 1

The benefit of katakana is that we can translate things phonetically, while also butchering the word while at it.
Like how sandwich become サンド (sand).
Much easier to use and write, thus gaining a lot of popularity.

But It’s not like there is no proper kanji for camera, 写真機 (shashin ki) is still used. Which means photo taking machine.
Though nowadays It’s more commonly used for the photo booth.