A Way With Words
Frequently Asked Questions
In Germany the word Igel doesn't mean the masterful creature we would assume to be the eagle. Instead it's the common prickly garden animal, the hedgehog.
Why does an oriental business card look different?
We are frequently requested to translate and typeset business cards into various oriental languages. This is done as a gesture of courtesy towards the host country and the translation is usually printed on the reverse of the English side.
As such, the translated side usually only bears the basic details: company name, name and position of the representative, town and/or country. Addresses and phone numbers can be taken from the English side - after all, if you address a letter to a British company in Japanese, it is unlikely to reach its destination once it reached the UK!
A standard layout for an oriental business card is as follows:
Some companies may simply prefer to reproduce the English layout. Proper names (i.e. names of people and companies) are transliterated sound by sound rather than translated. Therefore, please give us the pronunciation of any unusual names.