Good brand name translation

[skylee]

I've just come across this name and I think it is really good -

paracetamol (the active ingredient in many painkillers like Panadol) - 撲熱息痛 (this is not really a brand name, though)

Other great translations I can think of include 可口可樂 (Coca-Cola) and 露華濃 (Revlon).

Can you think of others?

[Outofin]

Good

Best Buy 百思买: Chinese and English perfectly match.

Carrefour 家乐福: very Chinese, depicting a image of happiness.

Bad

WaltMat 沃尔玛: What is that?

[roddy]

I like (DIY / building supplies firm) B&Q's translation - 百安居

[xiaocai]

Talking about the translation of drug's name, here is another good example:

: Reserpine: 利血平

[goldie]

i always wondered why they didn't go for this translation 口渴口乐, it sounds perfect and the meaning is good, innit?

[geraldc]

I like 阿華田 for Ovaltine.

[skylee]

MasterCard 萬事達卡

Benz 奔馳 (but Mercedes being 梅賽德斯 is quite disappointing)

BMW 寶馬

[skylee]

I am not sure if this is the official name but the University of Wollongong in NSW in Australia is commonly known as 臥龍崗大學, and I think it is a great name. This name has very successfully brought my attention to the university.

I can't help imagining that 臥龍崗 is full of talents like Zhuge Liang ...

[skylee]

I've been taking plenty of pain killers lately and I am growing very fond of paracetamol 撲熱息痛 (mentioned in #1), which is an excellent transliteration IMO.

The very amusing 威而鋼 (viagra) is another very good drug name that comes to mind.

Any more good brand name transliteration to share?

[OneEye]

優鮮沛 Ocean Spray (cranberry juice)

Not a brand name, but I saw Goldmember (the Austin Powers movie) at the store the other day, and it was 夠MAN吧! This may be Taiwan-specific slang (你好man喔!), I don't know, but I thought it was funny.

[skylee]

No it is not Taiwan specific.

[OneEye]

Good to know, thanks. It's hard to know with this sort of thing sometimes, because I'm not exposed to much mainland material outside of academic books.

[skylee]

What I meant was we also say "man" like that in HK (in Cantonese of course). I suspect that the usage originated in HK. I have no idea if people on the Mainland also say "man" like that. But if they do I suspect it is also a HK influence, which is not uncommon.

[OneEye]

Ah, interesting! I know they've imported some other slang from HK here, though I can't think of any off the top of my head.