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.