Weekend Edition: “Bravo Your Life!” and other Konglish Slogans
Korea’s Samsung has been spending millions of dollars in America to promote itself as a high-end brand and then they turn around and mar their image by using a ridiculous English slogan, “Bravo Your Life,” in its home country. Samsung is not alone in using grammatically incorrect English language slogans. Baskin Robbins’ new slogan in Korea is “Ice Cream & City.”
Businesses in Korea either do not check with native English speakers or they are over-ruled by higher-ups in Korea’s notoriously bureaucratic organizational structures. Either way, native English speakers in Korea are alternately frustrated and bemused.
Even newspapers in Korea have been pointing out the problems of “Konglish.’’ Below is a list of the sillier slogans being used in Korea:
Bravo Your Life (Samsung Life Insurance)
Have a Good Time (KTF)*
Digital Exciting Anycall (Samsung Electronics)
Think Star (Kookmin Bank)
Human Bank, Human Life (National Agricultural Cooperative Federation)
Humanism Thru Digital (SBS)
Milk Itself (Seoul Milk)
36.5°C Delivery Service (HTH Logistics)
Think Benefit (Samsung Card)
Korea Tomorrow & Global and You (Korea Tomorrow & Global)**
*KTF has also has used “First in Mobile’’ and “Good Time Chance.’’
**the real problem here is the company name.
(h/t: Doug Binns)
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