Re: The Porsche Macan is coming... now how do you pronounce it?

Just got an email from Porsche announcing this:
[my.porsche.com]

God love their engineering but does anyone else think they're overthinking things in the marketing department?

[Begin fun rant]

First of all, they only had 3 models... Boxster, 911, and Cayenne. Why the heck did they go with Cayman? Seriously?!?! There are 50 billion words in the universe... you have three models, one of which starts with Cay... and for your fourth vehicle it's beginning with... Cay???

Then they go with the pick-a-vowel Panamera... Panorama. Panama. Pamanera. Panemera. Penamera. Panomera. Panemara. Panamero.

Now they're going with Macan, saying pronunciation (mah•chahn). The name is derived from the Indonesian word for tiger.
really!?!??! People will say MAY-CAN. MAH-CAN. MAY-CAIN. MAH-CAIN. MACON. MACKIN. MAHCON. How long will it take everyone to learn MAH-CHAHN?

[End fun rant]

You are forgetting that Porsche is an international company. Their Asian market is heating up big time. Also, they have to consider what a word will sound like/translate too in other languages. I believe that's why the dumped Cajun for their Pepper Petite. International marketing textbooks are littered with examples of popular US products that never took off in foreign lands, mainly to their "branding" and refusal to change the product's name to take into consideration of different languages and cultures. Pure ignorance not to do any market research before spending millions on a product that's destine for failure simply due to it's original name.

there are stories about the "No va" and the Camaro not selling. The first is obvious in Spanish; the last thing you want to associate with a car. "Camaro" supposedly is a colloquialism for just the opposite: the runs.

Minus 40 degrees... Is that Fahrenheit or Celsius?

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

Minus 40 degrees... Is that Fahrenheit or Celsius?

It's pronounced Mah- tjahn. If you can say "Maria's charcoal"- you can pronounce correctly "Macan". If you can say "Marche Chaussee", you can easily say "macan".
The original Dutch-Javanese dictionary spelling was Matjan, in Zoetmulder's Dutch-Javanese dictionary using the Dutch-German--Latin "A': As in Ave Maria, gratia plena Dominus tecum... Sancta Maria, Mater Dei ora pro nobis peccatoribus et nunc hora mortis nostrae..Amen (all Latin A).
And NO! there are no multiple possible pronunciations- either Latin "a"- otherwise the word is incomprehensible gibberish.
It then cannot and does not rhyme with Bacon, Pecan, Fashion, Again, Rogaine, Hexen, Pa Shan, or anything else.

The Book "Get A Name" by Jacky Tai (an amusing note- tai, thai and tahi all mean in Indonesian "pooh") notes the Mistubishi "Pajero" which was not taken very seriously in the Spanish world- meaning "masturbator"-hence the Mitsubishi Shogun and Montero for those markets.
Ford also made a major gaffe with what Brazilians thought was the car for the man with a little pecker the Ford Pinto, in Brazilian-Portuguiese slang means little d*ck.
American Airlines also famously fluffed it with their "Vuelo in Cuero" hoping to persuade Mexicans to enjoy their luxury leather seats, not as Mexicans took it as: "fly in the nude".

Macan means "tiger", (but can also mean large feline as in "macan tulut" (speckled tiger) our indigenous clouded leopard). It is a Javanese word (120+ million speakers with its own alphabet still taught at all levels including tertiary Javanese literature) both in common use and prose. We even have two royal cities famous for tourism where all the signs are in Javanese (looks a bit like Thai) with Latin script underneath (Indonesian).
Javanese remains commonly spoken, on the world's most populous island: Java, 30+ million more than Japan, where most Indonesians (55%+) reside and are ethnic Javanese. We Javanese dominate the political, military, judicial realms as well as intelligentsia, academia, fine and performing arts and blue-chip commerce. The capital city, Jakarta is a Javanese name, meaning Jaya Karta- city of victory.

It is a tiny bit strange "Macan" was chosen above the prose nouns for tiger much easier to pronounce: pragalba, sardula and wiyagra. Well, wiyagra and Viagra are uncomfortably close.
So, finding a name is not easy- especially one that cannot easily be made fun of. Why Porsche did not use "Tiger" is probably due to sensitivities over old Prof. Dr. Ferdinand's infamous Panzers.

Considering Indonesia is one of the world's 5 fastest growing economies at 6% per annum in a slow year, with a far larger affluent class than India or China, no slave labour, no Dhalit enslavement, no consumption of endangered animals especially the eponymous "macan", with a track record of respecting Intellectual Property most especially of major German and Japanese manufacturers-(Indonesia makes parts for fighter aircraft, EADS helicopters and Airbus aircraft), with several major Volkswagen factories to be built 2014-2016, it is completely unsurprising "Macan" was chosen as a product name.

Other Javanese names to look out for may be: "gogor"- (tiger cub), badak (rhino), gadjah (elephant), krembah (a jungle cat), blacan (another wild cat), candramawa (a mythical cat that can kill mice with just a stare), bidho (hawk), elang (golden crested hawk) and Garuda is well-known (both a mythical and real eagle).
Indonesia- 4th most populous nation that likes to mind its own business, unlike larger regional neighbours.

"A mile of highway will take you one mile. A mile of runway will take you anywhere."