Linguistic screening
See also: language check, linguistic check
Linguistic screening tests candidate names across the languages of every target market for unintended meanings, offensive readings, awkward pronunciation and spelling problems. It is a filter applied before shortlisting, not a check performed after a decision.
In practice
The failures that matter are in languages nobody on the team speaks. A name that is elegant in English and unfortunate in Portuguese will be discovered by the market rather than the team, usually after the logo has been paid for. Mitsubishi sold its Pajero as the Montero in Spanish-speaking markets because pajero is vulgar slang there. For a naming decision, run the screen on every finalist in every target language before the shortlist is presented.
Where this sits in the process
The studio treats this as part of a single run rather than a separate service: the category is read, the creative direction is chosen from what the research found, candidates are generated in volume and then cut against criteria that were written down first. See how the studio works for what that produces, or the naming module for the stages themselves.
Related concepts
- Cultural screening: Translation is not the whole test.
- False friend: The words that look familiar across languages and are not.
- Transliteration: Entering a market with a different script is a second naming problem.
Frequently asked questions
What is linguistic screening?
Linguistic screening tests candidate names across the languages of every target market for unintended meanings, offensive readings, awkward pronunciation and spelling problems. It is a filter applied before shortlisting.
What does a linguistic check of a brand name cover?
It covers what the name means or resembles in each target language, how it is pronounced by native speakers, whether it is hard to spell, and whether it sounds like a word with a negative meaning.
When should a name be screened linguistically?
Before the decision, not after. The failures that matter sit in languages nobody on the team speaks, and discovering them after the logo is paid for costs far more than removing the candidate early.
Sources
- [1]Brand name (Wikipedia)— Wikipedia