Lost in global translation
Are these new local brands leading the charge for global mindshare, or are they seriously lost in global translation?
TORONTO:
What are customers around the world saying about the new booming South Asian brands? What are they reading in the brand-names? Which ones are they loving and talking about? Which ones can they pronounce, type and remember easily? Are these new local brands leading the charge for global mindshare, creating presence of greatness, or are they seriously lost in global translation?
Currently, more than ninety per cent of mega South Asian or Middle Eastern projects are being branded under Anglo-Ethnic or Arabic based names. Most of these are foreign to international audiences while some even project mixed messages after translation.
They impose very serious limitations to brand name appreciation, prolonging high costs in obtaining global mindshare.
To appreciate this dilemma, unless you are fluent in Japanese, try to make sense out of a fancy scripted Japanese name with some deeply rooted cultural message with rich heritage.
For this reason, over half a century ago, the global image-savvy corporate Japan developed all major brand names based on international rules of translations, negative connotations and pronunciations which fitted mass global appeal, making the names easy to talk about, spell and remember.
Contrary to belief, on global branding, America really provided the largest battleground, as it was the Japanese that truly laid the systematic foundation on what makes globally accepted and universal name-identities fit enough to conquer global image.
Decades ahead, Japan was on the forefront of creating global brands, like Toyota, Minolta, Sony, Pentax, Sharp, Panasonic, Canon and hundreds of other five star standard names, as names originating from Japanese language would have never allowed such global acceptance.
Surprisingly, today China is caught into too many local language-based brand-names that seriously inhibit internationalisation of the name-identity. This can be bad for a country that is now recognised as the world’s largest factory, and by now, would have easily claimed hundreds of globally popular names.
India currently sits in the middle. Being more open to non-local-language-naming, it is now on its way to becoming the next global powerhouse of domestic brands.
In order to truly benefit with these global intricacies and have a vision to acquiring universal name identities, one must bite the bullet first and be open to frank and candid boardroom level discussions in micro detail.
This is a process that demands a commanding knowledge of global business naming procedures, corporate nomenclature and many other different skills unheard of in the traditional logo-centric-slogan-happy branding process.
After all, the prime objective of any brand name is to spread its wings and fly in expanding markets, something only possible when names are without extra luggage.
It is also very important to note that despite the seeming dominance of English, there are some 2,700 different languages with 8,000 dialects around the world.
Altogether, there are 12 important language families and fifty less popular ones. Indo-European is the largest family in which English is the most important category.
Based on usage by population, the following is a list of major languages in descending order: Chinese, English, Hindustani, Russian, Spanish, Indonesian, Portuguese, French, Arabic, Bengali, Mali and Italian.
‘Nay’ is yes to Greeks. The American ‘yeah’ means ‘no’ to the Japanese. A simple laugh – ‘ha, ha, ha’—means ‘mother’ in Japanese, while ‘Ohio’ means good morning.
In Russia, ‘looks’ means ‘opinion’ and ‘socks’ means ‘juice.’
In France, a simple sign of ‘sale’ means ‘dirty.’
To the British, long distance is a ‘trunk,’ sister a ‘nurse’ and elevator a ‘lift.’
The Chinese word ‘mai’ said in a certain style means to ‘buy’ and in another style to ‘sell.’
When enunciated together, ’mai mai’ means ‘business.’
The simplicity turns into complex marketing challenges. Global understandings of these issues are pre-requisites in achieving a globally acceptable name-identity.
We all better be wary of language issues: customers are no longer simply local to your streets; they are scattered all over the globe, local to their own streets, yet still somehow connected together.
The next branding challenge for the Middle East is to acquire a deeper understanding of universal image and identity management.
Best, obtain a Name Evaluation Report, available via Internet. Most businesses, convinced that that they have the best and well known name-identity are often surrounded by their own people, current customer base and current markets.
If the ultimate goal is to acquire globally recognised name identities, then name personalities are only good when they are liked and understood by the global audience. So why stay lost in global translations?
Published in The Express Tribune, August 23rd, 2010.
What are customers around the world saying about the new booming South Asian brands? What are they reading in the brand-names? Which ones are they loving and talking about? Which ones can they pronounce, type and remember easily? Are these new local brands leading the charge for global mindshare, creating presence of greatness, or are they seriously lost in global translation?
Currently, more than ninety per cent of mega South Asian or Middle Eastern projects are being branded under Anglo-Ethnic or Arabic based names. Most of these are foreign to international audiences while some even project mixed messages after translation.
They impose very serious limitations to brand name appreciation, prolonging high costs in obtaining global mindshare.
To appreciate this dilemma, unless you are fluent in Japanese, try to make sense out of a fancy scripted Japanese name with some deeply rooted cultural message with rich heritage.
For this reason, over half a century ago, the global image-savvy corporate Japan developed all major brand names based on international rules of translations, negative connotations and pronunciations which fitted mass global appeal, making the names easy to talk about, spell and remember.
Contrary to belief, on global branding, America really provided the largest battleground, as it was the Japanese that truly laid the systematic foundation on what makes globally accepted and universal name-identities fit enough to conquer global image.
Decades ahead, Japan was on the forefront of creating global brands, like Toyota, Minolta, Sony, Pentax, Sharp, Panasonic, Canon and hundreds of other five star standard names, as names originating from Japanese language would have never allowed such global acceptance.
Surprisingly, today China is caught into too many local language-based brand-names that seriously inhibit internationalisation of the name-identity. This can be bad for a country that is now recognised as the world’s largest factory, and by now, would have easily claimed hundreds of globally popular names.
India currently sits in the middle. Being more open to non-local-language-naming, it is now on its way to becoming the next global powerhouse of domestic brands.
In order to truly benefit with these global intricacies and have a vision to acquiring universal name identities, one must bite the bullet first and be open to frank and candid boardroom level discussions in micro detail.
This is a process that demands a commanding knowledge of global business naming procedures, corporate nomenclature and many other different skills unheard of in the traditional logo-centric-slogan-happy branding process.
After all, the prime objective of any brand name is to spread its wings and fly in expanding markets, something only possible when names are without extra luggage.
It is also very important to note that despite the seeming dominance of English, there are some 2,700 different languages with 8,000 dialects around the world.
Altogether, there are 12 important language families and fifty less popular ones. Indo-European is the largest family in which English is the most important category.
Based on usage by population, the following is a list of major languages in descending order: Chinese, English, Hindustani, Russian, Spanish, Indonesian, Portuguese, French, Arabic, Bengali, Mali and Italian.
‘Nay’ is yes to Greeks. The American ‘yeah’ means ‘no’ to the Japanese. A simple laugh – ‘ha, ha, ha’—means ‘mother’ in Japanese, while ‘Ohio’ means good morning.
In Russia, ‘looks’ means ‘opinion’ and ‘socks’ means ‘juice.’
In France, a simple sign of ‘sale’ means ‘dirty.’
To the British, long distance is a ‘trunk,’ sister a ‘nurse’ and elevator a ‘lift.’
The Chinese word ‘mai’ said in a certain style means to ‘buy’ and in another style to ‘sell.’
When enunciated together, ’mai mai’ means ‘business.’
The simplicity turns into complex marketing challenges. Global understandings of these issues are pre-requisites in achieving a globally acceptable name-identity.
We all better be wary of language issues: customers are no longer simply local to your streets; they are scattered all over the globe, local to their own streets, yet still somehow connected together.
The next branding challenge for the Middle East is to acquire a deeper understanding of universal image and identity management.
Best, obtain a Name Evaluation Report, available via Internet. Most businesses, convinced that that they have the best and well known name-identity are often surrounded by their own people, current customer base and current markets.
If the ultimate goal is to acquire globally recognised name identities, then name personalities are only good when they are liked and understood by the global audience. So why stay lost in global translations?
Published in The Express Tribune, August 23rd, 2010.