iPod in Chinese = easy to break? 
There are many examples of brand names that based on their innovative qualities, superior design or outstanding performance in the market has become the reference and even the name of a whole group of products e.g. Kleenex, Jeep, Rollerblades, Vespa etc. One of the more recent ones is Apple's extremely successful mp3 player iPod who has named the new media phenomenon of "podcasting", a verb derived from the two words iPod and broadcast. (Podcasting is the downloading of audio broadcasts to the iPod or other mp3 player). But what does all this become in Chinese? iPod was never given a name in Chinese and still goes under its English name in China. Using its English name is no problem for the ordinary Chinese iPod buyer but at the same time it is hard to avoid that iPod 'takes' a Chinese name in everyday conversations. One name seen used on a blog is 易破的, pronounced Yi-po-de, quite close to its English pronunciation (the i being more an e then an English I, maybe hard to know if you never heard iPod pronounced) but which would be translated as 'something that brakes easily'. This might be the words of an unfortunate customer; however, this kind of unfavourable names circulating should worry Apple.
Furthermore, by not choosing a Chinese name, it looks like Apple is not included in the future term for podcasting in Chinese. The latest examples of Chinese verbs in use are 'bo-ke' 播客， 'sui-shen-ting' 随身听(follow your body listen, the same word as a Walkman in Chinese)，'bo-ke' 波刻，'bo-bo' 播波，'wang-bo' 网播，'ju-bo' 聚播，'guang-bo' 广波, which all have no reference to iPod instead they refer to parts of the word broadcast in Chinese, waves, clients, internet or other products.
Chow Tai Fook CTF - taking luxury product naming to the next level
China's most prominent jewellery brand Chow Tai Fook recently got a 'Luxury superbrand' award for their innovative naming of their products. CTF mixes occident and orient, Chinese and English influences in their naming as for example in their Red Chamber jade collection (a reference to Chinese classical literature 红楼梦黑玉系列) contrasting with their Disney or Venice collections (迪士尼公主系列，维纳斯纯金系列). Other collections have been given beautiful names such as Forevermark Achievement Collection (骄人系列) and Auraseries (奥雅系列). Under their "younger brand" CTF2, they have released Charming, Taste and Fashion series with names based on their English anagram.
We enjoy CTFs creative naming effort and playfulness of words however, we feel that the naming sometimes feel a little opportunistic and short termed. For CTF to join the group of world wide luxury brands they need to decide more of a long term style rather then to follow short term trends and sudden opportunities in their naming. Luxury brands need to build up their brands over time and not be disturbed by the upcoming Disney movie.
With the right processes in place, CTFs naming could have more of a common structure and long term vision all necessary to take place in the family of global luxury brand.
Chinese New Year wishes - which one to choose?
Chinese New Year, or spring festival, is here so it is time to sit down and chose your seasonal greeting to send to your relatives and friends. As there are many different greetings in Chinese it may be a harder task then it first seems. The closest Chinese version of the English “Happy New Year” would probably be "xin-nian-kuai-le"; 新年快乐 however I would like to recommend some of the more colourful ones. Many Chinese greetings can be seen as quite concrete at first, such as "gong-xi-fa-cai"恭喜发财 (congratulations-get rich) or "cai-yun-heng-tong" 财运亨通 (get rich and prosperous) but they should not be taken too literally. In a language where variation is treasured they are only versions of the more general sounding "ping-an-xi-le" 平安喜乐 (safe happiness) and "wan-shi-ru-yi" 万事如意 (ten thousand things as you wish).
Yes it's all about luck and happiness and why you may wonder? It is because we all survived another Chinese New Year without being eaten by the horrible New Year's monster "nian". For those of you who want to be sure not to leave out anything you can always try this ten step New Years Greeting
祝你一帆风顺，二龙腾飞，三羊开泰，四季平安，五福临门，六六大顺，七星高照，八方来财，九九同心，十全十美 where the translation would be something like this:
一帆风顺 ：Plain sailing
二龙腾飞 ：Two dragons soar
三羊开泰 ：Three goats bring peace and safety
四季平安 ：Four seasons peace and safety
五福临门 ：Five blessings come to your door
六六大顺 ：Six ( ~ Six pronounced as flowing) flows smoothly
七星高照 ：Seven stars shine brightly
八方来财 ：Eight ( ~ eight is pronounced like the verb to prosper) fortune comes from all direction
九九同心 ：Nine ( ~9 is the biggest digit: the whole universe) together in one heart
十全十美 ：Ten ( ~connotation of totality) complete and beautiful
Happy Chinese New Year 幸福吉祥