Good Characters, Inc. Blog

AdAge reports that a new study from OMD Worldwide found that ethnic groups are turned off by ads that rely on stereotypes and caricatures rather than meaningful cultural cues.

Key points that are relevant when doing business in China or with the Chinese:

• “The respondents were saying, ‘We want to see ourselves represented in ads, but not in a stereotypical manner,’” said Pamela Marsh, group director-primary research and insights at the Omnicom media agency.
   
  Comment: This seems to be common sense although there is a fine line between typical and stereotypical.
   
• The ethnic groups agreed that messages should be culturally relevant, but they responded more positively to ads with multicultural cues, such as ethnic characters, phrases, expressions and values, than ads that were simply translations of general-market ads.
   
  Comment: Very often companies simply have their ads and marketing material translated from English to Chinese believing that simple translation will get their point across. Typically it doesn’t work this way. A more reliable method is to use culturally relevant ways to express the same idea instead of merely translating marketing ads.
   
• “Ad relevancy is more about communicating in kind than speaking in a language,” Ms. Marsh said. 
   
• Asians used the internet at significantly higher rates.
   
  Comment: Since the population in China is much greater than in the U.S., it is likely that in a few years there will be more people in China using the Internet than the entire U.S. population.
   
• According to the study, Asian-Americans also rely heavily on word-of-mouth because they are less receptive to ads than other segments of the population.
   
  Comment: Perhaps this is because several generations of Chinese and Taiwanese have endured several wars and various political propaganda. Hence they have learned to place less trust on the media and rely more on word-of-mouth. The good thing is that people are more ready to accept that an undesirable purchase was simply “bad luck” and they do not blame others or start lawsuits. On the other hand, the lower level of trust among Chinese makes life more difficult and less enjoyable. Until recently, you could not make a purchase in China or Taiwan and expect to receive a refund even if the product was defective or didn’t work as claimed. Thus people have to be very cautious before making a purchase.

What do you think?

Original:

• When Targeting Multicultural Audiences, Be Relevant
  OMD Study: Doing it wrong is worse than not doing it at all

From The New York Times:

YUMBERRY sounds more like the creation of an advertising agency than of nature—like Cherry Garcia or Juicy Fruit. But while the name was dreamed up a few years ago to help sell the fruit’s juice, which is just now appearing in stores around the country, the fruit has been grown for 2,000 years in China. 

The name yumberry was coined about 2003 by Charles Stenftenagel, a garden products importer from Indiana, when he was visiting a friend in Shanghai who owned a company that bottled the juice.

The fresh fruit, called yang-mei, is chewy and juicy with a pit like a cherry. Most varieties have a bumpy purple or red surface, like a litchi, although the skin is edible.  

“Since the way they pronounced yang-mei in their dialect was ‘yang-mee,’ it sounded a little like ‘yummy,’ and that gave me the idea to call it ‘yumberry,’” Mr. Stenftenagel said. “We thought it might be a catchy name.”

Some think yumberry’s the next pomegranate.

Links: 

• Yumberry Juice 
  上海杨百利杨梅
• From China, Only in a Bottle, a Berry With an Alluring Name
  The New York Times

What is the price of not having properly translated Chinese names? For the city of San Francisco, the answer is “More than $25,000.”

The problem arose just prior to an election when seven candidates for local offices found their translated names absent from the Chinese-language voting materials. Even though the English names were on the voter handbook and absentee ballot, Supervisor Mabel Teng complained that not having her name translated into the language of the voter was the same as not having it on the ballot at all. The federal Voting Rights Act as well as state law requires that precincts provide voting materials in languages other than English if a sufficient number of voters need them.

The omission cost San Francisco about $19,000 for printing and mailing of new materials for the 3,000 voters who requested Chinese-language election materials and up to $7,500 for running ads in Chinese-language newspapers to inform voters. It could have cost $105,000 to $310,000 if all the voter handbooks and absentee ballots had to be reprinted and resent.

The whole mess could have been avoided. If every public figure whose name might appear in a Chinese-language publication had an official translation of his or her name, that name would be readily available. It would be handy when a reporter calls or when filling out an application to run for public office.

Link:

• Ballot Brouhaha–A Federal Case?
  Campaigns, city compromise on corrections, but debate over omitted Chinese names continues

In New York, voters have a legal right to a ballot in their language (The New York Voter’s Bill of Rights). But for Chinese-speaking citizens, that ballot does not guarantee them the ability to vote. The reason is that the candidates’ names can be so poorly translated on the ballot that their identities are truly lost in translation.

This happened in the September 12 Democratic primary election. The names of office seekers were simply transliterated without regard for meaning or how the names usually appeared in Chinese newspapers. The result was that some candidates ended up with names with negative connotations—not a good thing for politicians—and other well known people were given names that no one recognized. These careless translations confused many voters and may have cost some candidates the election.

Among my Top 10 Reasons You Need a Naming Professional to Design a Chinese Name for You is the fact that “if more than one person writes about or refers to you, you could end up with several versions of your Chinese name. The different versions will confuse your clients.” 

The more important a name is to a Chinese audience, the more critical it is to have it professionally designed and officially written.

Links:

• New Yorkers’ Voting Rights
  A Voter’s Bill of Rights guarantees citizens of New York a number or rights when casting ballots, including the right to a ballot in their language.
• Voting Rules and Restrictions by State
  A number of U.S. counties provide election assistance for people speaking a language other than English. They provide ballots in various languages, translations of voting materials, and bilingual poll workers. In New York city, about 30% of Chinese-American voters used ballots in the Chinese language
• Many Transliterations of the Same Candidates’ Chinese Names Confuse Voters (Chinese)
  The wide variety of transliterations for each candidate’s name makes selection difficult for Chinese voters. Elections officials urge voters to become informed about the names and take their time in voting.
  候选人中文译名五花八门, 投票遇”天书”要耐心
• Confusing Transliterated Chinese Names in an American Election (Chinese)
  Imagine losing votes because voters don’t recognize your name and don’t know who to vote for.
  美国选举中文译名五花八门
• Confusing Transliterated Names Have Negative Impact on Chinese Voters’ Turnout (Chinese)
  Eliot Spitzer’s supporters had to spend extra effort explaining to voters that his transliterated name on the ballot is different from what they are used to.
  纽约联成公所批选举局译名混乱: 影响华人投票
• No Chinese Transliterated Names on the Chinese Ballot in Massachusetts
  In Massachusetts’ first use of bilingual ballots, September 2006, some Chinese voters complained that candidates’ names were printed in English with no Chinese transliteration. The Department of Elections explained that there are no official translations for the candidates’ names. The English-only names made voting difficult for many.
  美麻州初选首用双语选票, 未印中文译名华裔不满

National Zoo’s Baby Panda Named Tai Shan

The National Zoo’s panda is not even a year old, but he is already a father-in-law. His name, Tai Shan, has a number of meanings, and one is the address for one’s wife’s father.

Tai Shan is used to refer to Mount Tai, a mountain in Shandong Province. The prime minister Zhang Shui began the practice of having the new ruler, upon becoming emperor, ascend the mountain to offer sacrifices. When the prime minister’s son-in-law rose politically, others scoffed that the emperor promoted him only because of Zhang Shui’s institution of the ritual on Tai Shan. Thus taishan became a derisive term for father-in-law.

Maybe the zookeepers had something else in mind for the baby panda. Tai Shan is also the transliteration for the name Tarzan.

Tai Shan is also the name of Good Characters’ president Andy Chuang’s home town in Taipei Taiwan.

Links:

• Panda Cub’s Birthday Present: A Name
  “Tai Shan,” Winning Choice of Online Voters, A Symbolic Nod to U.S.-China Friendship. (Washington Post)
• You can track the little cub’s progress on the zoo’s Panda Video Cam (Discovery)
• The Right Address: Father-in-law is Called Taishan (Shanghai Star)