In the May 28 Ecommerce Times, Naseem Javed has a "Viewpoint" article entitled "Six Questions to Spur Web Success". Question number 5 is:
5. What is linguistics, and why do they embarrass your international customers?
A site name in one country can mean something entirely different when it circumnavigates the globe. How do you tackle such language issues? The answer is to acquire skills and a deeper understanding of global communications. Even if you're a regional player, your sites are still visible and exposed to the entire world. Cyber branding is an extremely global phenomenon.
Note that "A site name in one country can mean something entirely different when it circumnavigates the globe" is, I think, an Escher sentence of a new type, though I can't quite get it to sit still long enough to be sure.
There are some other great lines in this article:
One must determine the desired size, personality and length of the name, plus the choice of alpha characters, as each emits its own unique signals.
Customers must allow a name brand to settle in their minds before they give you cash.
When trying to process millions of silly and randomly structured names, the mind becomes overly tired.
The future can be pretty clear if it is planned today.
[Thanks to David Donnell for emailing the article reference].
[Update: Margaret Marks emails a link to a critical discussion (at wordlab) of an earlier Javed column: "... we feel compelled, in the interest of our profession, to debunk this bunk point-by-point...". Read the whole thing.]
Posted by Mark Liberman at May 28, 2004 04:22 PM