Japanese — the culture and language that spring to life a rich linguistic and diverse semantic world of acceptance, fullness, poignance, poetic expression and paradox. Beyond the utterance of a single word or expression lies a deep and complex labyrinth of majestic meanings; most of which are not effortlessly translated to English.
Here are seven words and expressions that will help you open your eyes to a new world, and your mind, to a new reality:
1. Shouganai ?????????????????? (“It cannot be helped”)
Shouganai, which means “it cannot be helped” or “no one can change or fix it”, is more than solely an expression. It is a mentality of total acceptance of a situation that is out of your hands, or beyond your control. It pertains to the passive force of patience that a person adopts, in an unwholesome experience or event. An example would be, “The coronavirus has perpetuated a global pandemic. Shouganai.”