Same can be said about at least half of the brand names coming out of China these days. Theyâre invented by people who may have only limited knowledge of English, thus not knowing if itâs going to be perceived as âweirdâ or not by native English speakers.
Does Xiaomi sound any better? Does Allmaybe? Shockli? Haikelite? LiitoKala? Wurkkos? Glaree? Moobibear? There must be thousands of Chinese brands out there that sound weird in English.
Xiaomi sounds better because it sounds stereo-typically Chinese to âwesternâ ears. All those other brand names you listed donât âsoundâ Chinese whatsoever, hence they are the âweirdâ ones.
Then there is UranusFire⊠Iâm sure Iâm missing some âgoodâ ones.
Alas, like with everything, people get used to hearing these names and after a while, they may not sound weird anymore. Although not Chinese, Iâm sure Mazda, Toyota, Sanyo, Samsung sounded weird at first.
So I heard about these two immigrants who were in line in New York Harbor, decades ago.
The first one came from Norway, the second one came from China.
And they got to the head of the line and the immigration officer asked the tall blond guy his name
âIngemar Johannsenâ
The immigration officer wrote it down and said âNextâ.
The short black haired guy came forward and the immigration officer asked his name, and he said
âSam Tingâ
The immigration officer filled out the form and said âWelcome, Mr. Johannsen. Itâs unusual for two men to come through one after the other with the same name.â