Thursday 7 March 2013

Wrong spelling = poor image

"Lelvel"?
I took a walk through Little India and saw this sign outside what is arguably the most famous Indian restaurant in Singapore. Apolo Banana Leaf is very well known. Indians have a high standard of English, too. So, how did this happen???

It is easy to blame "typo error" and "lack of proofreading" for the glaring error. I think even a beginner in learning English would not make such a mistake. He would have used a dictionary first! Wrong spelling is unacceptable anywhere. It makes a laughing stock out of your company and brand, no matter how famous you may be.

While some brand names are just plain ignorance on the part of the creative team, others are thinking they have a cool idea that means something else!

Before you create a brand name and advertise it far and wide, go find out if your so-called cool brand name has any adverse meaning in another language. It pays to do some research first, or you may find that some countries will either laugh at your brand name or reject it outright. And you may never know why. Learning a new language will help prevent such mishaps.

Have fun learning, kapatid ("friend" in Tagalog)!

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