Watch Brands in Chinese "Found in Translation!"

Interesting!

Thank you very much for this!

My wife is Chinese (Cantonese-speaking). Her Dad speaks three dialects and helped us name our kids. When my wife and I were first together, I tried to learn some Cantonese. They told me just to give it up because I simply couldn’t get the tones right, and they couldn’t stand it, so all I know is a few basic conversational words and food-related stuff.

And now I know some Mandarin watch names. Thank you, and I’d love to learn more.

OMG the Cantonese dialect have more tones and it is very much harder to grasp and learn! You are a brave man! And thank u for reading!👍👍

Thank u I hope to post more in future! 😀

I would be very interested to see some more. The interesting thing is the parallels to this with the origins of watch brand names and the lines of the models as well. I’m reminded of the Ranchero, Omega’s failed line of Seamasters, which translates to “farm hand” in Spanish.

@Aurelian had a similar post a while ago with regards to Russian brands (although it may have been lost).

This could be a very interesting thread… I’ll just park up here and see what happens.

And I am interested to share more! Thank u for reading my post! And yes, I will try find the post u are trying to share!👍😀

Which explains why every old coot wears a Rolex date-just/day-date/explorer and go for other divers. Holy crap what a bad sign a Submariner is in Chinese.

In my part of the world, they always wear them gold too. Oh and dun forget the gold teeth.🤣

Bro, I'm just north of your country. Waves at former Malayans, heh heh heh

We all remember those uncles lepak'ing at kopitiams in super casual wear with their Datejusts, Day-dates and Explorers on their wrists.

I've always wondered why the Ali Express Submariner homage models from multiple brands were called "Water Ghost" - it makes much more sense now.

yes! u got it! the un initiated will be pretty lost! 😢

hello my fellow brother from across! i still remember old uncles call them lor lac. hahahahaha

Thanks for the lesson, how cool! 🍻

thank u for dropping by! cheers!

I would make the comment, they were trying to find synonyms to make the word rolex. This magic word play is not uncommon in China, as they have hacked out many English names in this manner. This also functions to not require a new word to be made up for a brand or name. The last character is for 'scholar' in context, not man. That is a different character. The middle character muscle/hp 'strength' is found in many a tattoo. The first word should be understood as is a verb, as 'in regards'. It makes more sense reading it this way as the meaning of the phrase is "strength that never fails" or "the strength that does not fail" Try not to Wikipedia everything in chinese, some silly rabbits you will find in the holes...

Awesome post, very interesting!

I am looking forward to more!

Thank u for reading and sharing your knowledge! 👍 I appreciate you willing to spend time to share!

However I wish to point out that I am pretty sure 士 means man and of male gender in Chinese if you dun add the word 女 in front, which stands for female. To further elaborate, by adding the word soldier Infront you form 士兵, which also means soldier. And yes you may have guessed by now, to mean a female soldier, you add 女 Infront, forming the word 女士兵. You however do not need to add the word male 男 Infront to mean a male soldier as soldiers in general are mainly male.

I am guessing the word u are referring as man is 人, which also means man, or human being, or just people. Example when you say 家人, it means family members, 家 meaning home. And when you say 情人， it means lover, where 情 means love or emotion.

And for the word 劳, it really means labour. It is used widely in the below instances, 劳力 - physical labour, 劳动，work related physical activity, 劳改 - corrective work order, 勤劳 - hardworking. And some countries celebrate a day called labour day, hence we add a word festival 节 or 日 behind, forming 劳动节. In some instances 劳驾 or 劳烦 is a formal term which means to trouble a person for help, and when someone helps you, you can reply 有劳, which means thanks for the effort, but it is way too formal. Usually we just say thank you!

And yes you are right! 力 means strength and therefore, a strongman in Chinese is 大力士, with 大 meaning big or great. Hence when put together, it stands for big strength man. Notice the word 士 used at the back to denote the gender!

Is there a Wikipedia in Chinese, that I am not sure!

Hi! I am thankful for ur dropping by!

Very interesting. I would like to hear more about Chinese watch brands, particularly from a Chinese point of view.

I am new but I will try! Thank u for giving me the chance!

The English I learned is kind of like this. As an example, Rolex comes from the root ‘un-obtainable’.

Thanks for this! Super dooper interesting reading! Fascinating how the words translate. I particularly like SKY DWELLER - 天行者

You keep reading each word without context. Yes singularly you maybe correct, in the phrasology you are not. Go ask you chinese literary teacher, they will tell you in context 士 is scholar is more appropriate, not denoting gender. Rolex isn't that dumb to call their brand labour strong man watch company.

人 is person not denoting gender, go check your dictionary. Male is 男.

Also 劳 does mean labour but in this phrase, it is a verb, for 'regard'. Stop using words in the wrong context and you will arrive at the proper answer. I actually know the chinese language so you can forgo the grade 2 deconstruction of the language. Stop hacking up the language. Yeah english is my second language so my grammar is mostly bad...

Go ask an older person or a poet with this context in mind. Also think about it, is that really translation this swiss company is going for that you suggest? labour strong man? last time I checked they do sell to women.

This is how foreigners get dumb characters tatooed on them... last thing I need to see, people with rolex tatooed on them... because rolex means 'working strong man' according to this post.

Thankful for your comments and welcome to my page!😀

It is also made using a metal called unobtainium 🤣

Hi there, i am going to give one last try to share what i know of the chinese language as it is my mother tongue, and I have for the past 41 years speaking and writing it. We do not use the word 劳 as a verb or regard or like what you mentioned. the word 劳 will have to be paired with another word to give it a specific meaning and context, like the so many examples i have shared with you and everyone here. Other wise on its own, it simply means labour.

To use it as a verb which denotes an action for example, throw, catch or jump, the word 劳 will have to be written as 捞, which as u can see, another chinese character has been added on the left side. this character represents 'hand' in chinese. Hence if u see any chinese characters with this on the left side, it usually means an action using the hand. For example, 打，提，捆，will mean to hit, raise and tie up, respectively. And yes, we have another word representing to use the foot.

Therefore, 捞 will mean to scoop something up, hence the famous chinese hotpot chain is called ’海底捞‘, literally meaning scooping from the sea. Therefore i emphasize again, the word 劳 on its own is not a verb, or 'regard'.

Hence, in my humble opinion, since this word is used in Rolex as 劳力士，劳 was paired with 劳力 and hence a certain context was assumed, as 劳力means labour using strength. Adding the word 士, it will suggest it to be a person, specifically a man. you have indicated many times that the word represents scholar, but in chinese, scholar will be 学者, which also means a learner, or if u prefer a more ancient way of calling it, it will be 秀才.

The closest i can think of will be 博士 or 硕士，which means professor or 硕士，as in master's degree. Both of these have no gender. Another word with no gender will be 护士, which means nurse. I am thinking you have confused the word 士 to represent a scholar because of this. However, just like the word 劳, it has to be paired with another chinese word to give it further context or meaning, other wise, 士 on its own usually is assumed to be a man/male. One more word for sharing will be 绅士, which happens to mean gentleman. Again, a man.

Meanwhile, 人 is man, as in the general sense. Man as in mankind, human being, which i have explained earlier. And I am not saying Rolex is saying their their brand means labour strong man. I am first literally translating the chinese characters individually to share what they individually mean, and then after the characters are put together, a certain context is formed and can be assumed, thereafter, I gave some possibilities what they can represent, as the chinese language is vast and profound, there can be various ways to interpret, like the examples i given:

1) A character(man) of strength and capable of arduous labour.

• when i say arduous labour, it can also mean tough achievements or challenges, hence leading to a more modern suggestion below:

In today's context, it could mean, A man of strong character and achievements. I largely refer it as a man as the brand is pretty masculine in nature.

• next, i give the perspective from what the watch says about itself, which is tough and takes everything you throw at it. As we know, they are famous for their tool watches and i see it reasonable to relate to his aspect:

2) A tough and durable time piece that is able withstand challenging conditions.

Respectfully,

I just think your pedestrian translation is a disservice to the brand. The whole point is not to take the word out of context. Your discussion points on singular meaning I am not disagreeing with. Your idea that it is a male watch company is from your own bias as a male. You might want to try to look at the female catalog sometime. I am just trying to enlighten your audience to what rolex is actually meaning for their name which under your logic of dissection is utterly incongruent with their branding.

It is with regrets that you would think this way, that i am impressing on anyone reading my post that rolex is a male watch company. I for one believes anyone reading this post would be more intrigued on the ways brand names can be interpreted by the language, are open minded to new concepts or ideas, and willing to share and learn from one other, as seen in the many other comments here.

It is sad that you have to turn this into a gender issue, and you find it hard to agree with opinions other than your own.

For the record, I have not claimed I am correct in the interpretation of the brand as seen in my post, for i know readers can make their own decisions. I have decided to unfollow you, and will not respond to your future comments, as i prefer meaningful discussions rather than trying to prove a point or pass judgement. That is not the experience i was looking for nor the experience i want to give others.

My best regards to you nonetheless,

This reminds me of the twitter thread of Chinese nicknames given to NBA players.

My favorite is the one for Giannis Antetokounmpo, which reminds me of my favorite Chinese name for a New York City place:

日本仔橋 (Japanese Guy Bridge)

Which is the Chinese name for the Kosciuszko Bridge which connects Brooklyn and Queens.

Why is a bridge named after Revolutionary War general Tadeusz Kosciuszko?

Bridge, named after some guy, name starts with a K and has a ton of letters. He’s a Japanese guy, right?

Chinatown logic remians undefeated.

OMG i read the link u shared and it was hilarious! The Giannis Antetokounmpo one is indeed hard to beat! imagine being called that letters guy. hahah!! the klay thompson one is also a treasure, especially with that photo for reference!

The japanese guy bridge is a winner as well, chinatown logic wins! 😂