Good Characters Blog

1 Written language — Chinese characters — mutually intelligible by speakers of 13 mutually unintelligible Chinese languages, as distinct as French, Romanian and Portuguese.

2 Sides of the brain used in aural comprehension of Mandarin; non-tonal English utilizes only the left side for aural comprehension.

3 Mandarin’s ranking in the top 10 most commonly spoken languages in U.S. households, according to Census 2000. Only English and Spanish have more speakers.

The Chinese have been using traditional characters for several thousand years. About 50 years ago the Chinese Communist Party gained political control and changed the writing system. It was a stepping-stone towards their goal of eliminating characters and eventually replacing them with the Western Roman alphabet. Fortunately, this plan is no longer in place. However, simplified characters are here to stay. At this time, simplified characters are official in China and Singapore. The traditional characters are still in use in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan (as kanji), Korea (as hanja), and most Chinese communities in North America.

Perhaps more than any other written language, Chinese can be visually appealing. But beautiful characters may communicate thoughts that are not so lovely. People at the Max Planck Institute found that out the hard way. They published a special report on China and wanted a dramatic set of Chinese characters to make the cover of the report stand out. They selected symbols from a Chinese literary work that they thought looked nice. Someone should have told them the characters were from a strip club advertisement that said, “Young housewives having figures that will turn you on.”

Reference:

• Chinese ‘classical poem’ was brothel ad – Science journal mistakenly uses flyer for Macau brothel to illustrate report on China
• February’s Reader’s Digest (p. 105)

The official language in China and Taiwan, also spoken by about 1 in every 5 people on earth.

Minnan, as known as Hokkien or Taiwanese. A major Chinese language spoken by the wealthiest Chinese populations: in China in the coastal Fujian province, in Taiwan and in many overseas Chinese communities. Around 45 million Chinese speak Minnan. (SIL International 2000)

You need a Chinese name. Some of your Chinese-speaking employees have suggested names. Why not just go with one of those?

You can use one of those, but your name is your identity—it is very important—and there are many advantages to hiring a professional naming consultant for this most important aspect of your business.

1. Greater knowledge and skill. Your employees may be great at what they do, and they may have good language skills, but naming and branding are very intricate arts, and people who do not practice naming daily are considered amateurs at naming. Amateurs have a limited set of ideas and names. Professional naming consultants have years of experience, deal every day with a wide variety of people and businesses, and think in many more directions.
2. More names to choose from. Amateur translators give you one name or only a few names. Professional naming consultants explore many aspects of a name—sound, appearance, connotations, associations, nuance of meaning—and can give you hundreds if not thousands of possibilities, each with its own flavor.
3. Your involvement in the process. Amateur translators give you a name with little input from you. Professional naming consultants involve you in the selection process. They give you an exhaustive list of possible names, explain the subtleties of each, and let you decide which features matter most to you.
4. Cost savings. Having your employees divert time to naming will cost you in reduced productivity. Using a naming project as a team building exercise can backfire: People may become offended if their names are not chosen or if they feel the selection process is subjective and unfair. Pros give you an objective, third-party opinion and process. Professional naming is an investment. Naming consultants establish processes and relationships that you can build on and use again and again.

As professional naming consultants, we do not hesitate to share our knowledge with our clients. Sharing builds trust. You may want only a name today, but tomorrow you may need more. As your business expands, you may not have time to do everything in house, and when your needs grow, we hope you turn to us, to people you trust. And the more sophisticated you become in the art and science of naming, the easier it will be for us to work together on your next project, saving time and money.

I don’t know if this falls under fair use or plagerism, but a part in the book Doing Business in the New China: A Handbook and Guide by Birgit Zinzius (2004) reads very much like the article I contributed to Rivkin’s Naming Newsletter in 2002. The part is in the section under Toshiba to Oracle.

There was no credit or mentioning of my article in the book, but I am fairly certain the words were taken from my article not only because of the similarities in the paragraphs, but more specifically because of the spelling of Dong Ji. Toshiba’s Chinese name should be spelled Dong Zhi. I spelled it Dong Ji in my article to represent the actual pronunciation. I am the only one I have seen spell the name that way because essentially it is “incorrect” according to official Chinese spelling rules.

Here is my original writing:

For example, Toshiba once had a commercial song in China that sang, “Toshiba, Toshiba.” However, it turned out that “to-shi-ba” sounded like “let’s steal it” (tou-chu-ba) in Mandarin Chinese. People really made fun of it. Fortunately, Toshiba is a Japanese name and its corresponding characters, Dong-Ji, means “the East” and “nobility”. Now Toshiba uses Dong-Ji more and is careful when using the pronunciation of “Toshiba”.

Oracle had launched its official Chinese branding called Jia Gu Wen. It sounded nothing like “Oracle”, but it was one of the most fascinating names we had ever seen. Jia Gu Wen was one of the earliest forms of Chinese written language dating back more than 3,000 years. Not only was it the most advanced way to store information at that time but also it was used for prophecy and forecasting. It fits Oracle’s competency in the database applications and business intelligence applications very well.

Here’s from the paragraph from the bottom of Page 173 of Doing Business in the New China: A Handbook and Guide (Paperback) by Birgit Zinzius (Author). Image was taken from Amazon OnlineReader.

What do you think? I don’t mind that Zinzius uses my article; I only wish she had mentioned her source.

The most common Chinese ways of saying Happy New Year are Gong Xi Fa Cai (Mandarin) and Gong Hey Fat Choy (Cantonese). Even though the pronunciations are a little different, both are written the same way.

Gong Xi is congratulations or respectfully wishing one joy.
Fa Cai is to become rich or to make money.

Thus, Gong Xi Fa Cai means wishing you to be prosperous in the coming year.

Chinese New Year: January 26, 2009. The Year of the Ox.

Links:

• See it and Hear it
• Learn how to write Gong Xi Fa Cai in Chinese

We just received this request from Tony:

“I used your services a couple of years ago to help me name my oldest daughter and I am very happy. Now I need your help to name my 2nd daughter who is 4 now and I can describe her personality . . . You gave me excellent information. I will be honored if you would help me again. Thanks.”

Tony is an unusual man, and his daughter had an unusual name. I’d like to share with you the story of finding a unique Chinese name for a unique girl.

Tony is of Chinese heritage. Both his parents are Chinese, but he was born and raised in a small Chinese community South America. He can speak Cantonese, but he did not learn how to write it. Although he has a Chinese name, he was unable to give one to his daughter, Zyra Edith. So he came to us. He described her personality and sent us a picture (She was so cute!).

At 18 months of age, Zyra . . . 
. . . had strong character (she was born in the Year of the Horse, just like her mom).
. . . was already very sure of herself.
. . . was a fun, loving, and caring person.
. . . had a unique look that made her stand out in a crowd.

We’ve translated Zyra as 采華 (cai hua) because she seems to be a confident girl who is cheerful and bright and is always noticed.

Here’s the meaning of the name:

采 (cai, pronounced tsigh) is taken from 風采 (feng cai), meaning impressive and likable bearing; graceful bearing; elegant demeanor (or appearance or presence).
For example, the Chinese term 大放異采 or 大放異彩 (da fang yi cai) means to yield unusually brilliant results.
多姿多采 or 多姿多彩 (duo zi duo cai) means colorful and varied in posture.
神采奕奕 (shen cai yi yi) is glowing with health and radiating vitality.
神采飛揚 (shen cai fei yang) is to be in high spirits.
文采 (wen cai) means literary grace, literary talent, or elegant appearance.

華 (hua, pronounced hwah) is China, Chinese, magnificent, or flourishing.
It is also the ancient character for 花 (hua), meaning flower.
For example, the term 華貴 (hua gui) means luxurious, sumptuous, or magnificent.
華裔 (hua yi) is a non-Chinese citizen of Chinese origin.
華麗 (hua li) means gorgeous, resplendent, or splendid.
繁華 (fan hua) is ostentatiously prosperous or bustling and flourishing.
風華 (feng hua) is elegance, talent, and grace.

Together, 采華 produces a unique name that sounds like Zyra and hints at elegance and vitality that stands out in a crowd.

Tony’s last name in Chinese is 吳, pronounced wu in Mandarin and ng (like um) in Cantonese.

The Chinese surname 吳 (wu) sounds the same as 無 (wu), meaning without, nil, or nothing. Therefore, it is always a little tricky to name someone with this surname. For example, if your name is Smart, with the surname it translates as “Wu, Smart” and sounds like “Not Smart.” Similarly, Wu with the name Beauty would sound like “Not Beautiful.”

For Zyra’s full Chinese name, 吳 (wu) 采華 (cai hua), placing the surname in front of the given name, as Chinese do, creates a danger that the name will be perceived as 無采 (wu cai), meaning not responsive. However, there is another, stronger and more frequently used association that comes to mind: 五彩 (wu cai), meaning multicolored. The Chinese term 五彩繽紛 (wu cai bin fen) means colorful or blazing with color. It also goes well with the third character 華 (hua), meaning magnificent or flourishing. The positive associations for the name when the characters are placed in this order outweighs the potential negative twist.

Zyra is now 采華 (pronounced tsigh hwah). We love the name!

Xin Nian Kuai Le!

Xin Nian is New Year. Xin is new and Nian is year.
Kuai Le is happiness, joy, pleasure, delight, or rejoicings.

So “Happy New Year” in English is “New Year Happy” in Chinese: Xin Nian Kuai Le.

Links:

• See it and Hear it
• Learn how to write Happy New Year in Chinese