Brand name translation : How translation distorts Oriflame’s Chinese brand name communication

Abstract: This pre-study explores how the process of translating from English to Chinese may distort intended brand name messages, using Oriflame as a case study. The findings show that the brand name had a tendency to be perceived as phonetic rather than phonosemantic and that the character combination was perceived to make no clear sense. The study identified these as two main reasons to why Oriflame’s intended brand name messages did not get through.