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Brand names in Chinese


Ringo

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Is it true that there are brands names that have different pronunciation and meaning in Chinese? My Chinese student noted that Ray-Ban, which my current eyeglasses means "Thunder friend" while Gucci means "Ancient fine Jade." Some successful examples include Coca-Cola (Kekoukele), which conveys "taste and fun", Reebok (Rui bu) meaning "quick steps" and Colgate (Gau lu jie) which translates to "revealing superior cleanliness".

To my Chinese friends, please reply with some brand names and their Chinese meaning. I'm so amazed.

 

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  • 5 months later...

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I am so glad that you noticed this phenomenon. We do make efforts to transliterate these brands names to show the use or property of the products. 

Pepsi Cola->百事可乐 BaiShiKeLe, which means everything is worth a joy.

Safeguard->舒肤佳 ShuFuJia, which means it is good at comforting your skin.

Anta->安踏 AnTa, which means step on sth safely.

Airbnb->爱彼迎 AiBiYing, which means welcome each other with love.

Bing->必应 BiYing, which means definitely has the answer. 

Johnson->强生QiangSheng, which means strengthen your life. (If Johnson is regarded as a name of a person, we call it 约翰逊 YueHanXun).

Pampers->帮宝适 BangBaoShi, which means help the baby to help comfortable.

Omo->奥妙 AoMiao, which amazing and marvelous (to advertise its function of cleaning clothes).

If it is really hard to associate the use or property with the pronunciation of the name in Chinese, we simply use those characters that mean beautiful things or wishes to transliterate the name. 

 

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