‘Lagom’ is a Swedish word – difficult to translate – which means roughly ‘just right’, ‘nothing extreme’, ‘perfect balance.’ Some Swedish people will maintain that this word cannot be translated into another language, but the truth is that all words can be translated; some words require a little more effort...

“Lagom” in China

For example in China the concept of ‘zhong yong’ – ‘the golden mean’ goes back to the time of Confucius and the Chinese classics. In some regards it is similar to the Swedish ‘lagom’ but as a Chinese colleague suggested recently ‘zhong yong’ is more a philosophy than an adjective. She suggests another word - ‘xhong leu’. The Chinese characters mean ‘standing right’ – exactly the right amount, balanced.

“Lagom” in Korea

The Korean language is also written with a beautiful pictographic script, so that words are combinations of pictures and concepts. This means that many characters are open to different interpretations. Perhaps this is why the written languages of Chinese, Japanese and Korean have such a vibrant tradition in poetry – from ancient times to the present day.