Name: Dang Khoa Tran

ID: 300148790

REPORT 1

1.1 Concept : The role of language in socio-cultural communication

We should be aware of the important role of the language as a communication means in society,
among different nations, different socio-cultures
Language is defined as “a body of words and the systems for the common use of the people
who are in the same community or nation, same geographical area, or same cultural tradition”
(Dictionary reference-language defines, 2011). On the other hand, language is also known as “a
system a system of communication that uses arbitrary signals, such as voice sounds, gestures, or
written symbols” (Dictionary of the English Language, 2000). Furthermore, language “is one of
the defining characteristics of a culture”. (Charles W. L. Hill, 2009, p.106). For instance, Canada
has English-speaking culture and French-speaking culture while in Spain; a Basque-speaking has
its own distinctive culture. People can communicate with each other through spoken and
unspoken languages (which refer verbal and nonverbal communication). A spoken language is
not only the communication means but it is also used as the method that helps people to perceive
the world and define culture (Hill, 2009). In unspoken language, images, sounds, gestures, body
expressions and movements could be used in order to express their feeling and thought. It is
important in communication because a failure to understand the nonverbal cues of another
culture can lead to a misunderstanding or communication failure (Charles W. L. Hill, 2009,
p.107). Moreover, language barrier between each culture could cause most of the failure and
misunderstanding in international business which is usually known as “major blunders through
improper translation” (Charles W. L. Hill, 2009, p.107). Therefore, the knowledge and study in
language and culture are essential for investors and organizations who intend to participate in
doing business abroad.
1.2 Example: of the important role of language
Coca-Cola is one of the biggest companies in the world which keeps the large proportion of
market share in soft drink industry. When the company was first sold in China in 1928, they got
the mistake with the meaning of the first name “Ke-ke-ken-la” (Coca-Cola wanted to translate
their brand into Chinese). Unluckily, Coca-Cola did not recognize the meaning of their name that
was “bite the wax tadpole” or “female horse stuffed with wax” depending on the dialect
(Iterotext-translation service, Oct 2008). This problem happened because of the strange
translation in China and the complexity of Chinese writing. Coca-Cola obviously couldn’t
discover the meaning of the characters used although they founded carefully 200 names and
avoided using many of these because of their meaning. Finally, the company had to research
another name immediately and decided to choose “ko-kou-ko-le” which is a good slogan in
Chinese
1.3 Application : of the Coca Cola case
The example of Coca-Cola demonstrates the mistake of most companies when they want to
translate their brand name or business slogans to local language.
In the process of translation from original language to other languages, international
companies should be aware of the different meaning of their translation in order not to meet the
mistake in the translated meaning. In some cases, interpreters just translate the words but did not
identify all of the meaning of these words in the local languages. The example of the Coca Cola
when chose four characters “Ke-ke-ken-la” translated from Coca Cola for the Brand name in
China, it brought to the negative meaning of the Brand name as explained above. This mistake
might not only get the laugh from anyone who knew Chinese, but seriously it might create
intangible loss such as bad brand reputation, bad impression to customers besides the losses of
number of sale and profit.
1.4 Implication
Although Coca-Cola founded carefully 40,000 Chinese characters and chose only 200 words
that were pronounced as the sound the company needed, they also got mistake with the meaning
of each character. In order to solve the problem, Coca-Cola quickly researched another good
name using Mandarin dialect because it was the formal and most popular language in China.
Finally, Coca Cola chose the closest phrase name “K'o K'ou K'o Lê” which sounded like the
English name Coca-Cola. Each of character has a real meaning related to “drinking” while the
combination of this phrase means “Happiness in the Mouth”
 The translation problem of Coca-Cola in China finally could be well resolved, but it
would be a useful lesson for any other companies who wanted to do the international business in
different countries, especially in Chinese market. Before making decision of investment in a new
country or entering a new market, all Companies should put enough research time to learn
carefully the culture as well as dialect, slang of the new Country. Hiring the expert such as
interpreter or counselor could be a good solution to prevent any mistake due to socio-cultural
misunderstanding

In summary the benefit of fully researching on the socio-culture of a country or nation is that the
investors and organizations could create sustainable management in long term with plenty of
profit in potential markets such as the Asian markets.
 References

 Dictionary of the English Language (2000). Retrieved December 4, 2010 from

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/language
 Hill, C. (2009). International Business – Competing in the Global Marketplace (pp.106-
107). New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
 Phil Mooney (March, 2008). Coca-Cola conversation: Bite the wax Tadpole. Retrieved
from
http://www.coca-colaconversations.com/my_weblog/2008/03/bite-the-wax-ta.html
 Dictionary reference (2011). Retrieved from
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/language
 Bob (Jan, 2011). Chinese translation disasters. Retrieved from
http://www.szcchina.com/blog/2011/01/engnese-chinese-tattoos-chinese-translation-
disasters.html