By Star Chang, posted Jan 7, 2012 at 8:40 AM, 1,554 views,

How Global Companies Translate Their Brand Names in China

Global companies really need to take care on choosing their brand names for the Chinese market. Because some mistranslation can become a joke and affects their marketing. In Chinese, Microsoft’s Bing search engine translates literally as defect, virus and disease. No wonder it was rebranded ‘Bi Ying’, which means ‘Responds without Fail’. Some phonetic translations work better than the original. The Chinese characters for Coca-Cola, pronounced as ‘Ke kou ke le’, means tasty and fun. With China’s market for consumer goods soaring companies rely on linguists in a bid to avoid embarrassment. Here are some of the translated and rebranded products on China’s shelves, check them out after the break.

Source: The SUN