Card Sharps and Name Games

How to tackle translation of names and business cards in Chinese

Our very popular report on business cards is now available: Attention Business Owners: Don't Get Your Business Card Translated Until You Read This. Essential reading if you are doing business with China - get your free copy now. 

Save yourself from embarrassment - getting the name right is vital

• General Motors' Nova car was marketed in South America; unfortunately No Va in Spanish means 'it doesn't go'.
  
• Clairol's Mist Stick in English (a curling iron) became a 'manure stick' as mist means manure in German.

These are two major companies which stuffed up in their translations and serve to illustrate the importance of proper name translation and using qualified, experienced translators. In English personal names it seems anything goes; by contrast in Chinese there are strict rules regarding names. The most obvious difference from the English naming system is that the surname comes first. Chin Communications is frequently asked to prepare business cards, which means translating names; we hope that the following information will be a useful reference.

If we can assist with a business card or any other documents please contact us or call 1300 792 446.

Chinese Business Cards

How would you react if a visiting businessperson presented you with a card in Chinese characters only? Which way is up? What am I going to call the person? What is his title? What is his surname? Put yourself in the shoes of that person back in China - when you present your card with hard to pronounce words appearing on several lines - how would you know which is the name, where is the title, how to pronounce the name, which name comes first, etc? The obvious solution, which saves everyone from embarrassment and at the same time is a wonderful sales tool is an effectively translated business card. Don't leave home without them!

First impressions are vital. An introduction has to include an exchange of business cards. A business card is almost a mini-cv to the Chinese. They are seen as part of you - your status, your image, your reputation - your face.

The standard method for presenting bilingual cards is to use a double-sided card - English on one side and Chinese on the reverse. Other possibilities include Chinese and English on one side or both sides combined. Cards should contain translations of all names - business names and individual's name as discussed above. The principles for preparing a double-sided card are:

• Personal names should be translated according to the suggestions above by an experienced translator;
• Logos should appear on both sides of the card; if the English logo incorporates the business name it should not be changed, but any company names within the logo can appear on the card on a separate line in Chinese, probably above the address information and below the individual's name and title;
• If colours are used on the English side of the card, these should also be used on the Chinese side - everything should be the same (shows respect);
• A person's qualifications and other positions held usually appear on Chinese cards - this element will depend on company policy but it is a good idea to include if possible;
• Numbers should be rendered in Roman form;
• Contact information should be translated, e.g. the words for phone, fax, mobile, email; don't forget the country phone code too, however the address details ought to remain in English in order for any mail sent to the address to be received. We often see addresses translated for suburban or city streets in Australia - how will the post office interpret these - there is no set translation for most street names? The only exception to this is that the country name should be translated at the end of the address.

The card layout should mirror the English side - most translators can receive electronic artwork, for example a pdf, and create the Chinese version so that all the information is in the correct position, applying appropriate fonts.

Organise the translation and printing well in advance - it is probably best to have the cards translated and printed prior to departure to ensure accurate translation and quality printing. Use a qualified, accredited translator and preferably one who can provide a suitable electronic file format to your designer/printer. Because names are complex and their translation highly skilled, it is advisable to select a native speaker of the target language who has experience creating and translating names.

Never run out of cards - prepare more than you think you could possibly use and then double the number. Keep them in a special case somewhere safe - not in your back pocket - always have them close at hand when you are meeting people.

Surnames

British surnames arose between 1250 and 1450 A.D., while in ancient China surnames date from a matriarchal society - to 2000 years B.C. - where they followed the maternal line; the surname came from one's village or family's name. The nobility also had a clan name which was derived from their title or territory. Same surnames could not intermarry; same clan names however could. These days, children usually take the father's name; however we have met siblings with different surnames - maternal and paternal. Married women retain their own surname.

The Chinese word for 'surname' is xing (ÐÕ) which is the radical for woman on the left-hand side (Å®) and the radical for birth on the right-hand side (Éú) - put together it means 'born of woman'. In the Tang Dynasty (approx 600 A.D.) a government official compiled a listing of 593 surnames, which were published in the Annal of Surnames. The current standard for surnames - 'Surnames of a Hundred Families' - came about in the Northern Song Dynasty (960 A.D.), hence arose a common saying ''lao bai xing'' - the old hundred surnames - which means 'the people' or 'the masses' in China today. There were 438 surnames recorded in this work, but in practice 100 are referred to and in China today there are probably 20 surnames which cover 50% of the population. When we say surname we, of course, mean a Chinese character, eg ÕÅ (Zhang), Àî (Li), or Íõ (Wang) - across the Chinese Diaspora and through centuries of Chinese migration spellings (in English) vary considerably. So Zhang might be spelt Chang, Cheong, Chung, Tchung, and so on - but the surname (character) is the same. Incidentally there are over 100 million Zhangs (however it is spelt) in China.

Chart of Top Surnames

1. Zhang, Wang, Li, Zhao, Chen, Yang, Wu, Liu, Huang and Zhou (40%)
2. Xu, Zhu, Lin, Sun, Ma, Gao, Hu, Zheng, Guo, and Xiao (10%)
3. Xie, He, Song, Shen, Luo, Han, Deng, Liang, and Ye (~10%)

Given Names

Do you know what your English given name means? Most people will answer in the negative. By contrast, Chinese names are given because of their meaning.

Great importance comes with a name and, as with English names, there are trends. A given name is one or two characters usually. Currently it is popular for girls to have a repeated given name - Lili or Ningning, for example.

Traditionally village elders were often given the task of naming a new baby. Fortune-tellers were also consulted to make sure that a child's name accorded well with its moment of birth. People believed that a name was linked to a child's fate. They had to consider the date/time of birth and Chinese astrology - the five elements (metal, wood, water, fire and earth) and their influence according to the stars, the pronunciation, as well as how the name was written - the various elements of the characters and the meaning. Children were sometimes given a derogatory nickname designed to make them seem unattractive so as to avoid possible attacks by evil spirits. These names were, of course, rarely used past childhood, since they were temporary expedients. It was perfectly possible to find small children named 'little pig' or 'dog face'. Boys sometimes were given girls' names for the same reason, since girls were thought less susceptible than boys to spirit attacks.

In modern China superstition has receded and what is thought important now is meaning with consideration for what is popular or trendy, and a character/s that doesn't have too many brush strokes. One should also be careful in repeating certain elements or sounds, for example avoiding the same initial consonant and too many rounded vowel sounds. It is also important to try and achieve harmony with the five elements in the name - perhaps the sign of the birth date is connected with water, therefore a name which has some connection with its opposite - fire might be included to add balance. In addition, generation names are often given to all members of a particular generation - this is a character (syllable) that is the same for each sibling: eg Hu Zhi Ming and Hu Zhi Tian. Whereas before the 1960s, 90 percent of Chinese names had three characters, now about half of young people have two characters - surname + one given name - the People's Republic of China Government, by contrast, is encouraging parents to give their children longer names to avoid confusion.

Qualities that are admired at the time are reflected in names and history's lasting influence is also evident. Consider these: de - virtue, wei - great, wen - culture; and these days cai - wealth, bao - treasure. As new China developed from the 1920s and particularly after the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, names related to loving the country, the army, red, revolution, soldier and the east became popular. You can tell a lot about history and when a person was born from their name: Ai Mao (love Chairman Mao), anything Hong (red), Jian Guo (build the country), Guo Qing (national day).

A woman's name is distinguished from a man's sometimes but not always. Women's names may include flowers or birds, jewellery, words related to composure, and beauty; whereas a man's may invoke honour to the ancestors, virile or militaristic words, and adjectives such as sturdy, firm, or strong.

In ancient China, the Emperor's name could not be used. From the first Qin Emperor to the last emperor, anyone whose given names were the same as the emperor had to change them or suffer possible execution. Children, under the strict Confucian cardinal relationships rules, were also unable to use their father's given name in speech or writing.

Translating Names

A client contacted us while he was on business in China. He had been proudly presenting business cards at various locations in China and everything had been going smoothly until he reached a Cantonese speaking part of China - Guangzhou. His name sounded great in Mandarin, but in Cantonese it became a homophone for drinking dog excrement. I hasten to add that the translation was not created by us, but we made sure that the new name had no such connotation.

Whether you live in China or are making a short visit it is essential to take a good supply of business (name) cards. These must be in Chinese and the first step to achieve a Chinese business card is to translate the holder's name. There are several ways of translating a person's name:

1. A genuine Chinese name can be created - as with our doggy friend above - a Chinese surname and one or two given names that have something in common with the person's English name - perhaps in the sound or meaning - if the person knows what his/her name means. This is probably the way to go if you speak Chinese or are going to spend considerable time in China. A good example might be Mr Stone - Shi means 'stone' and is a surname too. An English John Law might become Zhang Luo (where Zhang is the surname but sounds like John) - this is an example of a sound translation;
2. Transliteration (phonetic translation) - others argue that foreigners ought to use 'foreign' names in Chinese characters where the pronunciation of the characters sounds similar to the person's Western name (a transliteration). In this latter way, Chinese people reading your name or business card will realise that you aren't Chinese where they may mistake you for a Chinese, or someone who can speak Chinese if you have a genuine Chinese name. Former Prime Minister John Howard and most ministers almost always adopt a sound translation - Yue han · Huo hua de (sounds a bit like John Howard, doesn't it). In addition, in order to identify the group of characters as a name, divided into first and last names, a dot appears in the middle of the characters - between the first name and surname (shown here to demonstrate what it should look like in Chinese characters). Where an initial is used in a name, e.g. E. Gough Whitlam, it should be ignored. Incidentally, new PM Kevin Rudd has a genuine Chinese name - Lu Kewen (sounds like Kevin) - as one might expect given that he can speak Chinese.

Famous Names

Gandhi - Gan Di (sweet earth)
Ernest Hemingway - Hai mingwei (bright and powerful)
Madonna - Mai Dangna
Father Christmas - Shengdan Laoren (old Christmas man)
Mickey Mouse - Mi Laoshu (rice rat)
McDonalds - Mai Dang Lao
George Bush - Qiao zhi Bu shi
Tony Blair - Tuo ni Bu lai er
Also:
Shampoo - xiang bo (fragrant waves) sounds similar with great meaning!
Mini (skirt) - mi ni (attracts you)

Company Names

Johnson and Johnson, the pharmaceutical company has been translated as qiang sheng (strong life) and sounds similar to Johnson. It took Coca-Cola many years to come up with a marvellous translation of its trademark - 'kekoukele' (happiness in the mouth). An earlier rendition of the combination of sounds (there were 200 sounds which closely matched the pronunciation) meant 'bite the wax tadpole' and was seen as a foreign word. You have probably heard that Pepsi's slogan: 'Come alive with the Pepsi generation' became 'Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave'. Other companies have spent thousands, even millions of dollars trying to arrive at a suitable name or slogan. There are many disasters: there was a pen that wouldn't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant, and an airline which wanted to say 'Fly in leather (seats)' but somehow the Spanish became 'Fly Naked'! Our advice on company names is that if you have doubts it can remain in English or simply be transliterated. If the business name is easily translatable it should appear in Chinese, for example Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia China Business Council, Big Pond. If the name has no obvious meaning, it may take considerable time to come up with a suitable Chinese name - market research and testing are usually required and a translator with a marketing bent will help greatly. Fosters eventually came up with a great name as they tried to Fosterise China - Fu shi da (wealth, officialdom and achievement).

Introductions

Have you ever noticed that Chinese visitors always have a large supply of business cards at their fingertips while you struggle to locate your card holder? As important as the content of the business card is its presentation. As an extension of its owner, cards should be treated with care, put in a safe place and presented in a formal ritual.

Start with the most senior person - shake hands and exchange cards with all; a small bow is ok too.

The visiting party usually hands over his card first. Study the card, nod and smile and hand yours over.

What to do with Business Cards

It doesn't take long to accumulate dozens - perhaps hundreds of business cards. This can be a very useful resource so time spent sorting and cataloguing them will be well spent. We know people who photocopy and file cards in subject and alphabetical order; there are even scanning devices which sort cards and can even deal with Chinese characters.