Mothertongue Blog

BEIJING — Cars in the United States tend to come fully equipped with stereotypes. Ford Crown Victoria: law enforcement professional. Toyota Prius: upscale yuppie environmentalist. Hummer: gas-guzzling egotist.

In China, where the market for imported passenger cars dates back only about three decades, an entirely alternate set of stereotypes is taking root — and the stakes have never been higher for foreign carmakers.

Take, for example, Mercedes-Benz, a brand that in much of the world suggests moneyed respectability. In China, many people think Mercedes-Benz is the domain of the retiree.

The Buick, long associated in the United States with drivers who have a soft spot for the early-bird special, is by contrast one of the hottest luxury cars in China.

But no vehicle in China has developed as ironclad a reputation as the Audi A6, the semiofficial choice of Chinese bureaucrats. From the country’s southern reaches to its northern capital, the A6’s slick frame and invariably tinted windows exude an aura of state privilege, authority and, to many ordinary citizens, a whiff of corruption.

“Audi is still the de facto car for government officials,” said Wang Zhi, a Beijing taxi driver who has been plying the capital’s gridlocked streets for 18 years. “It’s always best to yield to an Audi — you never know who you’re messing with, but chances are it’s someone self-important.”

With annual growth hovering above 30 percent in recent years, the Chinese auto market is rapidly surpassing the United States’ as the world’s most lucrative and strategically important. Last year alone, the Chinese bought an estimated 13.8 million passenger vehicles, handily topping the 11.6 million units sold in the United States. Foreign-origin brands, most of which are manufactured in China through joint ventures, accounted for 64 percent of total sales in 2010, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

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By ANDREW JACOBS and ADAM CENTURY (Published: November 14, 2011)

A little local knowledge goes a long way.

When a pharmaceutical multinational launched a new product internationally, they thought they could avoid translation issues by using pictures to explain the benefit.

The picture on the left showed an ill patient, the middle picture showed the patient taking the medication, and the picture on the right showed him looking well again.

Among the markets for the launch was the United Arab Emirates.

Arabic speakers read from right to left.

It is a common marketing practice to leave slogans, titles etc. in English.

But just because English is the global language, it doesn’t mean people’s levels of English are the same around the globe.

Even when a title is not translated, it may still need to be transcreated.

Take the film “Date Night”. The title seems simple enough – but research found that French people aren’t familiar with the word “date” in the sense of a romantic meeting.

The film was therefore retitled “Crazy Night”.

Whatever the language, you need to know your audience.

With a 20% unemployment rate, twice the European average, more Spaniards are now seeking work abroad. But they are coming up against a significant hurdle: their poor foreign-language skills, in particular their lack of English.

Spanish politicians don’t set a good example either: neither the head of the former Socialist government, José Luis Rodríguez, nor the actual Prime Minister of the Popular party, Mariano Rajoy, speaks English.

Even in the show-biz arena, Spaniards lack basic English skills, apart from some actors and actresses, like Penelope Cruz, who have studied hard to work in Hollywood. Last year, during the televised ceremony for the Goyas, Spanish cinema’s version of the Oscars, participants insisted that one nominated movie, “Buried,” should be called “Bar-y-ed.”

The economic crisis is, therefore, forcing more adult Spaniards to return to the classroom – and not just to learn English. Applications to learn German have risen 15% from a year ago, in order to respond to employment offers in the largest economy in Europe.

Although there is hope that the next generation will have sufficient communications skills to work outside Spain, as more children are now being taught by English speakers as part of their regular class work, the opportunity may be lost for those whom labour mobility is a burning issue right now.

Ferran from Barcelona, Spain

It’s important to research your product name in the market you want to break into. Even if a certain word doesn’t “look” offensive, sometimes the way it is pronounced can give it a whole new meaning.

When Vicks first introduced its cough drops to the German market, they were embarrassed to learn that the Germans pronounce “v” as “f” – and “ficken” is a crude term for “have sex” in German.

In the 90s, a mineral water called “Blue Water” was launched in Russia. But when Russians said the English name aloud, it sounded very like “блевота” (pronounced “blevOta”) – slang for “vomit”.

So they changed the name to “Water Blue” – a simple solution, but one that sounds much more appealing.

Haribo is to Germans what Cadbury is to the British – an institution. So when they decided to launch their products in the UK, it was important that the tagline was spot-on.

The original German line is “Haribo macht Kinder froh, und Erwachsene ebenso”.

A literal translation of this would be “Haribo makes kids happy, and adults too”.

While grammatically correct, this English is pretty flat as it lacks the punchy rhythm and rhyme of the original.

And so the following line was born: “Kids and grown-ups love it so, the happy world of Haribo”.

Kids and grown-ups love it so

Even in countries that share a language, words don’t always share their meanings.

In Mexico, “cajeta” is a thick, caramel-like spread. Confectionery company Hershey’s put this in a chocolate bar, which it called “Cajeta Elegancita”.

It was a success, and they started exporting it to the rest of Latin America.

But in Argentina, they hit a problem.

There, “cajeta” is called “dulce de leche” (the name by which it is known in the English-speaking world). “Cajeta” is a word for female genitalia.

A classic case of two countries divided by a common language.

I don’t want to speak ill of the dead but I’ve had enough of hearing how Steve Jobs changed the world single handed. It’s as if he invented everything! I have an iPhone and I’m happy with it but it was not the first smartphone. I had an Orange SPV which ran Windows Mobile as the operating system. It had Internet, email and games, it synchronised with my calendar at work and, with a small pocket GPS unit, I mounted the phone to my bike and had Sat Nav. This was in 2003 – four years before the iPhone was announced. I had an iPod which I liked very much but I remember buying a Sony Walkman back in the 80′s – that really changed the way I listened to music. We use both Windows PCs and Macs at Mother Tongue and they both have their uses, but I must say that the one thing that revolutionised popular computing was MS-DOS, the original IBM/Microsoft operating system. By keeping it cheap, Microsoft was able to gain wide distribution. The more people bought PCs, the lower the prices became and a common platform gave software developers high volume demand for labour saving applications. Steve jobs was good at selling expensive shiny things and I love the way he built the brand, but Bill Gates actually did change the world.

Guy from London, UK

The power of social networking is growing every day. Its users can either help to enhance the image of a company or demolish it at breakneck speed, while marketing departments are left struggling to avoid disaster. Take Panrico, for example, the leading company on the Spanish bun, pastry and sandwich loaf market, which owns the famous bakery brand Donuts and Donettes – they were forced to remove their product from the market because their autumn campaign provoked the rage of social network users.

It all started when a user from Valencia posted a picture to his Twitter account of the packaging for one of Panrico’s products, and an e-petition: “How nasty of you Panrico. To play frivolously with the crisis to sell more Donettes is regrettable!”

The picture showed the packaging with the campaign claim, “A pedir, al metro”, (if you want to beg, go to the underground) framed within the company campaign “Do not touch my Donettes”. The creative rational behind it was that no one wants to share their irresistible Donettes, but the idea fell out of grace in the actual context of the credit crunch, rampant unemployment and increasing house evictions.

The tweet soon gathered thousands of followers on the web and spread like wildfire. The hashtag # boycottDonettes was even created. All of this pressurized the company to take action, and correct what many considered to be a really insensitive move.

The reaction was swift. The community manager of the brand, in a desperate attempt to stop what was going on, quickly replied: “We are studying what has been said about a claim that is on some of our packs and we’ll inform you about our decision soon.” Shortly afterwards, the company issued an official apology and assurance that the packs with the controversial claim would be withdrawn from the market.

As “to err is human”, the Tweeter community has acknowledged the quick reaction of Panrico. Another example that a simple person can provoke big changes through the social networks. However, another question remains: aren’t we all getting too susceptible? And how strongly should a company defend themselves from such attacks when there is no intention of hurting anybody?

Controversial doughnuts

Ferran from Barcelona, Spain