Why is BMW translated as “宝马” in Chinese?
BMW stands for Bayerische Motoren Werke (German pronunciation: [ˈbaɪ̯ʁɪʃə mɔˈtʰɔʁn̩ ˈvɛɐ̯kə]: BMW – Wikipedia When Chinese translate foreign company names, they often try to choose characters which (1) sound similar to the original (Ba + Mo ~ bǎomǎ/baomaa) (2) are semantically related to the original (Horse ~ Car) (3) are auspicious (寶 is often used in Chinese to form compounds meaning “precious” or “treasure”) … Read more