Archive for April, 2006
Wal-Mart, Not Mom
Wal-Mart is known in Taiwan as Wei Ming, meaning “mighty name, big name,” which fits their position in the retail market. In China, Wal-Mart has a transliterated name, Wo Er Ma, which sounds much closer to the original name but looks very foreign because the combination of those characters doesn’t really mean anything.
We prefer Wei Ming since Wo Er Ma can sound like Wo Ma, literally “my mother” in Mandarin Chinese.
A more loose or tighter transliteration may be desirable depending on the nuances created by the sounds of the words.
Posted: April 1st, 2006 under Danger, Companies.
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