Good Characters, Inc. Blog

“Beauty is in the ear of the beholder.” And the Chinese ear and the English ear behold the same sounds completely differently. More and more Chinese companies trying to expand to the west are finding this out. As they seek to build international brands, they are discovering that Chinese names do not always translate well into English. Some examples:

A Chinese word for fragrant is fang. Since the word is also associated with beauty, one Chinese business named its lipstick brand “Fang Fang.” In China, it is lovely and sweet-smelling; to English speakers it is a sharp, pointed tooth of a snake or a dog. Not what most western women want to put on their lips!

In China the rooster is an especially well liked fowl. So the brand “Golden Rooster” has good connotations. But in America, “Golden Rooster” became “Golden Cock,” and all respect for the brand was lost.

China has a popular brand of playing cards, much like our bicycle cards. The name, Ma Xi Pu Ke, means Circus Poker Cards. Sounds innocent enough, but when the name was transliterated directly into English as Maxipuke, no one wanted to play cards!

A little more evidence that neither direct transliteration nor simple translation is adequate in international business. A professionally developed brand name makes a huge difference.

Link:

• English Transliterations of Brand Names a Nightmare for Chinese Companies (Chinese)
  商标译名成中国企业走出国门的”拦路虎”
  Chinese brand name’s English transliteration becomes Chinese companies’ obstacle (“a tiger in the way”) of expanding overseas