Wow Way or Huawei? A readable Chinese brand is the first key in unlocking America’s market
The Shenzhen-based company, which overtook Apple in China in smartphone shipments in June and July last year, had hired Scarlett Johansson and Gal Gadot to advertise its P9 smartphone model for the worldwide market. For the US launch of its latest flagship model, Huawei had a special mission for Gadot, one of the highest-paid and highest-grossing actress of 2017.
“Remember, it’s pronounced Wow Way,” said Gadot, the Israel-born actress best known for her role as the superhero Wonder Woman, in a video clip during Huawei’s coming-out party this week in Las Vegas.
Yes!!! Tell me this didn't just make my day!!! @GalGadot @Huawei #keynote #ww representing #wowway #wonderwoman ♥️♥️♥️ @booredatwork pic.twitter.com/cpU3PxrFNP— Stephanie Yong-Pratt (@BooredFemme) January 10, 2018
Huawei, founded in 1987 by Ren Zhengfei in southern China, is the world’s largest maker of telecommunications equipment. Its name, composed of two Chinese characters, can be translated literally into “Chinese Achievement” in English. These are characters any elementary Chinese speaker can read, or understand.
Not so for non-Mandarin speakers.
Chinese speakers read letters differently from native English speakers. Words like Huawei and Xiaomi, rendered in Pinyin, or the romanisation of Chinese characters, would be difficult to make out, according to Professor Wang Guizhen, who specialises in linguistics at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies.