QUESTION:
As China advances and develops, it is opening
up to a whole host of often new and interesting
ideas and products from abroad. China, with
its massive population base, is also keenly
eyed by global companies seeking a little
slice of the China pie for their products.
As in any country, branding a product or
service is a key to success. An important
part of corporate branding is, of course,
the product's name. But how to turn western
brands into Chinese names is a question that
has vexed many.
Coca-Cola had this problem when it introduced
its caffine-based carbonated beverage to China
in the 1980s. How was Coca-Cola first translated
into Mandarin:
A. Black bitter drink;
B. Bite the wax tadpole;
C. Long Live Coca-Cola;
D. Happiness in the mouth.
ANSWERS:
Go to the top of the class if you
said B. Bite the wax tadpole was how the characters
chosen to represent Coca-cola can be translated
when spoken in the Northern Chinese dialect
or 'female horse stuffed with wax' when said
in another dialect.
Not quite what the marketing department was
after I'm sure.
If you said D you are half-right. 'Happiness
in the mouth' is a close phonetic equivalent
of the name of Coke in China today - ko-kou-ko-le.