the language barrier
1. a close examination of foreign markets and language differences is necessary and should be required before a product's domestically successful name is introduced abroad. unfortunately, this step is sometimes neglected in a company's enthusiasm to plunge into overseas marketing operations.
2. sometimes, the company or product name may require alteration because it conveys the wrong message in a second language. large and small firms alike have discovered this. for example, when the coca-cola company was planning its marketing strategy for china in the 1920s, it wanted to introduce its product with the english pronunciation of "coca-cola". a translator used a group of chinese characters that, when pronounced, sounded like the product' name. these characters wereplaced on the cola bottles and marketed. was it any wonder sales levels were low? the characters actually translated to mean "bite the wax tadpole." since the product was new, sound was unimportant to the consumers; meaning was vital. today coca-cola is again marketing its cola in china. the new characters used on the bottle translate to "happiness in the mouth." from its first marketing attempts, coca-cola learned a valuable lesson in international marketing.
3. general motors was faced with a similar problem. it was troubled by a lack of enthusiasm among puerto rican auto dealers for its recently introduced chevrolet "nova" about ten years ago. the name "nova" means star when literally translated. however, when spoken, it sounded like "nova" which, in spanish, means "it doesn't go." this obviously did little to increase consumer confidence in the vehicle. to remedy the situation, general motors changed the automobile name to "caribe," and sales increased.
4. comparable situations have also been experienced by other car manufacturers. in fact, problems with the names used in international automobile promotions seem to crop up frequently. for example, the american car name "randan" was interpreted by the japanese to mean "idiot". the american motors corporation's car "matador" might conjure up images of virility and strength in america, but in puerto rico it means "killer"--not a favorable connotation in a place with a high traffic fatality rate.
5. a u.s. company was taken by surprise when it introduced its product in latin america and learned that the name meant "jackass oil" in spanish. another well-intentioned firm sold shampoo in brazil under the name "evitol." little did it realize that it was claiming to be selling a "dandruff contraceptive. one manufacturing company sold its machines in the former soviet under the name "bardak"--a word that signifies a brothel in russian. the name of an american product that failed to capture the swedish market translated to "enema", which the product was not!
6. many times the required name change is a rather simple one. wrigley, for example, merely altered the spelling of its "spearmint" chewing gum to "speermint:" to aid in the german pronunciation of the flavor. "maxwell house" proved slightly' more difficult: the name was changed to "maxwell kaffee" in germany, to "legal" in france, and to "monky" in spain.
7. product names are not the only ones that can generate company blunders. if a firm's name is misinterpreted or incorrectly translated, it, too, can have the same humorous, obscene, offensive, or unexpected connotations.
8. for example, a private egyptian airline, misair, proved to be rather unpopular with the french nationals. could the fact that the name, when pronounced, meant "misery" in french have contributed to the airline's plight? another airline trying to gain acceptance in australia only complicated matters when it chose the firm name "emu." the emu is an australian bird incapable of flying. when esso realized that its name phonetically meant "stalled car," it understood why it had had difficulties in the japanese market.
9. as a final illustration, consider the trade magazine that promoted giftware and launched a worldwide circulation effort. the magazine used the word "gift" in its title and as part of its name. when it was later revealed that "gift" is the german word for "poison," a red-faced publishing executive supposedly retorted that the germans should simply find a new word for poison!
10. of course, some company names have traveled quite well. kodak may be the most famous example. a research team deliberately developed this name after carefully searching for a word that was pronounceable everywhere but had no specific meaning anywhere. exxon is another such name that was reportedly accepted only after a lengthy and expensive computer-assisted search.
11. multinational corporations have experienced many unexpected troubles concerning company or product names, and even attempts to alter names have led to blunders. it should be evident that carefulplanning and study of the potential market is necessary because name adaptation can be every bit as important as product or package modification.
参考译文：产品跨国销售中的)语言障碍
1．把一个在国内颇为成功的品牌推向国外之前，．有必要而且应该对国外 市场行情和语言差异做一番认真的调查。可惜的是公司在积极打入海外市场 的过程中，往往热情有余而调研不足。
2．公司名称或产品品牌在另一种语言中有时会传递错误的信息，因而需 要加以改动。大大小小的公司都已认识到这一点。例如，在本世纪二十年代， coca-cola公司制定其在中国的销售策略时，就考虑过在推销其产品的同时保 留coca-cola的英语发音。有位译员用了几个与这个牌名谐音的汉字。这几 个汉字印在cola瓶子上推到市场，结果销路不畅。这并不奇怪，因为这个发 音译成汉字，成了“蝌蚪啃蜡”。coca-cola作为新产品，对消费者来说品牌 的读音并不重要，重要的是其含义。现在coca-cola公司又在中国推销其饮 料。印在瓶子上的“可口可乐”这四个字使人产生美好的联想。coca-cola公 司从其早期的推销尝试中得到了关于国际营销的宝贵教训。
3．美国通用汽车公司也曾面临过类似的问题。大约十年前，该公司发现 波多黎各汽车经销商们对其新推出的chevrolet“nova”汽车热情不高，这使 他们感到困惑。“nova’’这个名称按字面翻译，意为新星，可读起来听上去象 是“nova”。这在西班牙语中的意思是“走不动”。这一名称显然难以使消费 者对这种汽车产生多少信心。为了改变这一情况，通用汽车公司把汽车品牌 改成“caribe”，销售量就增加了。
4．其他汽车制造商也有过类似的经历。事实上，在国际性汽车销售活动 中，经常出问题的就是品牌名称。例如，美国汽车品牌“randan”被日本人 理解成“白痴”。美国汽车公司生产一种“matador”牌汽车，在本国这个名 称使人联想到阳刚之气，但在波多黎各这个牌名却成了“杀手”。对于一个交 通事故死亡率很高的国家来说，这个牌名的涵义不会使人产生好感。
5．让一家美国公司吃惊的是他们在拉丁美洲推销其产品时发现产品的牌 名在西班牙语中的意思是“公驴油”。另一家公司好心好意地在巴西推销一种 “ebvitol”牌洗发剂，却没料到这等于说出售一种“头皮屑避孕药”。有家制 造公司在前苏联出售“bardak”牌的机器，而“bardak”这个词在俄语中的意 思是妓院。另一种美国产品没能占领瑞典市场，因为在那个国家，该产品的 牌名被理解为“灌肠剂”，，而这种产品与灌肠剂却风马牛不相及。
6．根据需要改变一下品牌常常是一件很简单的事。例如，wrigley公司为 了使其口香糖名称发音带点德国味，将其拼写稍稍作了改动，把“spearmint” 改拼为“speermint”。“maxwell house”改起来稍难一些，在德国改称“maxwell kaffee”，在法国改作“legal”，在西班牙改成了“monky”。
7．公司的失误不仅仅局限在产品的牌名方面。如果曲解或错译某个公司 的名称也会同样产生可笑的、淫秽的、令人厌恶的或出乎意料的涵义。
8．例如，法国国民不愿乘坐埃及一家名叫“misair”私人航空公司的飞机。 “misair”这个名字读起来象法语中的“悲惨”一词。难道这不是该公司不景 气的原因之一吗?另一家航空公司试图在澳大利亚打开局面，可该公司 “emu”这一名称却使问题复杂化了。在澳大利亚有一种不会飞的鸟叫emu。 当 esso公司意识到其牌名的发音在日语中表示“抛锚的汽车”时才明白为 什么它在日本市场困难重重。
9．最后再举一个例子。有一家专门推销礼品的商业杂志试图将其刊物发 行到世界各地。该杂志用“gift'’一词作标题，杂志社的名称中也用了这个词。 后来发现“gift”一词在德语中表示毒药，据说该杂志一位负责发行的经理红 着脸反驳道，德国人真该重新找个词来表示毒药!
10．当然，有些公司的名称倒是畅通无阻的。kodak可以说是一个最著名 的例子。一个研究小组进行了细致的研究，找到了一个世界各地的人都能读 出但又没有任何特殊涵义的词。另一个类似的品牌是exxon，据说这一品牌 是耗费了大量时间和资金经过计算机检索才最后确定的。
11．跨国公司在公司名称和产品牌名问题上都遇到过许多始料未及的困 难，而且在试图改变名称时也会出现失误。显然，对于待开发市场，必须进 行细致的规划和研究，因为选择一个合适的品名同改进产品或其包装具有完 全同等重要的作用。