Key Ideas
• While some famous stories of supposedly disastrous brand names are inaccurate or exaggerated, careless naming can result in significant linguistic and cultural problems.
• Multilingual friends or colleagues—even if fluent in a language—won’t necessarily know the latest slang, regional dialects, or local brands that could cause problems for a name.
• Professional linguistic checks reach out to multiple native linguists living in relevant countries and ask them about meanings, connotations, associations, and pronunciation challenges for each name.
Stop me if this story sounds familiar:
When General Motors first launched the Chevrolet Nova, it barely sold in Mexico. Why? Because Nova translates to doesn’t ...
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