Written by Joanne Villavieja
After decades of globalization, some companies and products have been successful enough to be well known throughout the world. Take the most popular brands you know: Apple, Nike, McDonald’s, etc. We know them by these names here in the United States, but you’ll often hear them called differently abroad. Particularly in countries where the original language can be highly dissimilar to that of its audience, you’ll find that the names are often shortened to accommodate the different sound profiles. Or they can be changed entirely to convey a similar meaning. Transliteration and translation of brand names are methods that companies use to control how their product or service is being interpreted in a different cultural setting.
Take McDonald’s for example. The fast food chain was first introduced into the Chinese market as 麦当劳 (màidāngláo), a transliteration used to preserve as much of the original pronunciation as possible. Later on the name was changed to 金拱门 (jīngǒngmén), which translates to “Golden Arches”, evoking the image of that iconic golden “M”. Both naming strategies have shown a favorable reception in the target audience, while keeping true to the McDonald’s brand.
Other examples of strategic naming in the Chinese market include BMW’s name “宝马” (bǎomǎ) translating to “precious horse”. Horses in Chinese culture are significantly positive symbols of speed, power, and freedom.
Laundry detergent Tide is translated as 汰渍 (tàizì) whose characters mean “eliminate” and “stain”, while maintaining an almost exact pronunciation of the original name (note that unlike an English speaker’s instinct to say it as “zee”, the pronunciation of “zi” is similar to the ending phoneme of the word “buzz”).
Conversely, if no linguistic research is done, the names associated with a brand can have a negative influence on a company’s image in foreign markets. A well known example is IKEA:
IKEA spent several years adjusting its Thailand furniture catalogue after discovering that some of the Swedish names resembled inappropriate slang words in the Thai language. Local speakers were then consulted to ensure that such names were identified and modified. IKEA to this day is known to employ creative naming strategies to better market their products.
The most infamous brand name mishaps come in the form of car models being advertised in countries where their name has an unintentionally offensive meaning.
The Mitsubishi Pajero is an SUV model that was named after the South American Pampas cat, species “Leopardus pajeros”. However in many Spanish speaking countries, the word “pajero” translates to other unsavory terms.
Similarly, the Honda Fit is only called the Honda Fit in the Americas. Most markets will know the car as the Honda Jazz. This is because the name would have too often been pronounced as “fitta”, which in Scandinavian languages can be a term for female genitalia.
There are many more examples of brand name successes, and those that get lost in translation. Be ahead of the curve and identify the languages of your target audience before launching any new marketing campaigns. ETech’s 2025 software offers a swift and accurate solution for connecting to your global markets.
