japanese and german share a lexical pattern<p>the more syllables in a word then the fewer definitions it has<p>it is interesting to me that the author chose these &#x27;types&#x27; of words to highlight<p>their highly specialised nature makes them far more translatable than the Japanese words i find most beautiful<p>my favourite japanese word is 間,ma (o)<p>it is difficult to translate because it simultaneously carries multiple meanings: &quot;gap&quot;, &quot;space&quot;, &quot;pause&quot; or &quot;the space between two structural parts&quot;(i); it can refer to any existence of negatives space, be it temporal, physical or metaphysical<p>the kanji is a combination of the characters for: gate(ii) and sun(iii); two of the most important symbols in japanese iconography, and the question of whether the sun is setting or rising between the gate is up to interpretation as well<p>(o) <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wiktionary.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;%E9%96%93" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wiktionary.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;%E9%96%93</a><p>(i) <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Ma_(negative_space)" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Ma_(negative_space)</a><p>(ii) <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wiktionary.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;%E9%96%80" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wiktionary.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;%E9%96%80</a><p>(iii) <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wiktionary.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;%E6%97%A5" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wiktionary.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;%E6%97%A5</a>