»  birdsong gregory

As brands go global, translating the name of, say, Coca-Cola or Marriot, into another language can be a confusing minefield. Without a high degree of cultural literacy, you can unwittingly adopt an inappropriate connotation, especially in a marketplace like China, where names hold deep significance and the phonetic Chinese alphabet makes literal translations of western names very, very complicated.

For example, the phonetic Chinese character for Bing, Microsoft's new search engine, means, "disease," "defect," and "virus." Probably not exactly what the boys and girls in Redmond had in mind. Or Peugeot, the French auto manufacturer, which means "prostitute."

Increasingly, big consumer brands are faced with two options when entering the Chinese consumer goods market (which is growing 13% annually): literally translate your brand's name or come up with a Chinese brand name.

Coca-Cola, in Chinese, still sounds a bit like what you hear in the West (kekoukele), but other big consumer brands have opted to find a genuine Chinese name that can say more about their product than a few homonyms ever could. 

After a hard day's work, do you like to slip on a pair of Enduring and Persevering, start up your Precious Horse, and head down to the bar at the 10,000 Wealthy Elites for a tall, frosty glass of Happiness Power?

(after all, who doesn't like to wear Nikes, drive a BMW, and drink Heinekens at the Marriot bar)