The company compromised a little on the phonetics and decided on Ke Kou Ke Le, which has the more pleasing meaning of “to permit the mouth to be able to rejoice” in Mandarin.
可口可乐公司在发音上做了点妥协,决定采用“可口可乐”,这四个字在普通话中表示“让嘴巴快乐”,含义更美好。
phonetics: / fəˈnɛtɪks/ 语音学
rejoice: /rɪˈdʒɔɪs / 高兴,欢喜
Inc.com contributing editor Geoffrey James compiled a list of some of the epic fails in global branding. Here are a few examples:
因科网站编辑杰弗雷·詹姆斯编写了一些有史以来最失败的品牌国际化清单。这里有几个例子:
Clairol branded its curling iron for hair with the name Mist Stick in German, even though “mist” is German slang for manure.
克雷洛尔在德国用“Mist Stick”来命名电卷发器,而“mist”在德语俚语中表示肥料。
manure: /məˈnʊr/ 肥料;粪便
Coors beer translated its Turn It Loose slogan into Spanish by using a colloquial term for having diarrhea.
库尔斯啤酒将其口号“Turn It Loose(放松一下)”翻译为西班牙语,而这在西语口语中表示腹泻之意。
colloquial: /kəˈloʊkwiəl / 口语的,会话的
diarrhea: /ˌdaɪəˈriə/ 腹泻