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

In large part because English and Japanese both use phonetic alphabets. Chinese does not have a phonetic alphabet and thus phonetic translations don’t follow a set of rules.

You spell something out in katakana, and each letter has a direct and clear English translation. You have to be much more creative with Chinese to get the same effect.