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BBC:广汽传祺因撞名特朗普要改名?
2017-11-27 10:57
来源:BBC
作者:
rumpchi is the local brand of the GAC Group, a State-owned manufacturer that also makes cars for a number of international brands.
传祺汽车是广汽集团的本土品牌。广汽集团是一家国有控股股份制企业集团,也生产合资品牌汽车。
Earlier this year, the GAC Motor Design Director Zhang Fan told Reuters: "We saw people were laughing at this and took pictures looking only at this detail, and also put on Facebook or other websites.
今年早些时候,广汽集团设计总师张帆告诉路透社说:“我们发现人们在取笑传祺汽车的英文名,还把车标拍下来,上传到脸书和其他网站上。”
In the case of Trumpchi, however, the name appears simply to be a translation spin-off from its Chinese name which is Chuanqi, which is a play on the word "legendary" and loosely translates as "spreading good fortune".
传祺的英文名称Trumpchi只是其中文名称的简单翻译。“传”在汉语中有“传说”之意,“传祺”大致有“传播好运”的意思(“祺”在汉语中有幸福吉祥之意)。
It first got international attention in at the 2017 Detroit Auto Show, where executives were reported to be taken aback by the reaction it got and talked about mulling a name change then. Regardless of the name, the company hopes to put forward the first Chinese car that could break into the American market.
广汽传祺在2017年的底特律汽车展上首次得到全球关注。据报道,当时广汽的高管们看到大家对传祺汽车英文名的反应后感到吃惊,并开始讨论改名。不管改不改名,公司都希望将首辆国产传祺汽车投放美国市场。
China is both the world’s biggest market and its biggest manufacturer, turning out more than 24 million cars last year.
中国是全球最大的汽车销售市场,也是最大的生产国。去年中国生产了超过2400万辆汽车。
However, the great majority are sold domestically, and Chinese brands have struggled to gain a foothold in the US.
然而,大部分国产车还是在国内销售。中国汽车品牌想要在美国获得一席之地仍然要付出许多努力。
If renaming a car company for a new market seems a little strange, perhaps it shouldn’t.
为进军新市场而给汽车品牌改名,人们不应该感到奇怪。
Western companies have been rebranding for years when they set up shop in China.
西方公司在中国开展业务时改名从多年前就已经开始了。
The linguistic divide between Western languages and Chinese means that names are often nonsensical when they’re translated.
西方语言和汉语的差异意味着品牌名称的翻译常常听起来很荒谬。
So, they come up with names that at least sound neutral, or which might appeal to Chinese consumers.
所以他们会想出至少听起来比较中立的名称,或者可能会吸引中国消费者的名称。
Pampers, for example, is 帮宝适 or "bang bao shi", which means "helps make baby comfortable".
比如“帮宝适”的意思是“帮助宝宝舒适”。
Car companies do it too.
一些汽车公司也这样改过名。
BMW’s Chinese name is 宝马, which transliterates as "treasure horse".
“宝马”汽车直译的意思是“珍宝之马”。
Trumpchi wouldn’t be the first Chinese company to rebrand for a wider audience.
广汽传祺不是首个为了更大的市场改名的中国公司。
Chinese messaging app WeChat, for example, was rebranded from Weixin specifically to appeal to a more global audience, a move that helped it dramatically increase its overseas user base.
比如微信的英文名就曾经从Weixin改为WeChat,以吸引更多的全球受众。这也帮助它迅速扩大了海外用户基础。