Even within China itself, written Mandarin is the lingua franca. There are so many variations of spoken Chinese that anyone outside of the large cities is at a loss as to how to communicate verbally.

To answer your question, the role of languages, particularly indigenous languages, play a strategic role in their relation to branding.

Branding is a lot about image and language.

As a natural response to globalization, people are increasingly eager to discover diverse cultures and this is where branding can make a difference for French Polynesia’s promotion as an upmarket tourism destination.

Indeed, left aside the issues of standards and service quality, the question is “how to boost tourism with culture”?

Through cultural branding.

Take these Polynesian brand examples:

TARAVANA™ (Which means “the bends”)
Developped by Ruskin, Pathetic Fallacy is part of the many linguistic techniques used in branding. Taravana™ is easily pronounceable with the A alliteration, it is culturally accepted and furthermore drives consumers into an imaginary dimension as the bends reflect a sensory process of the human body in the water.

HINANO™ (Which is first the male flower of the pandanus)
The beer brand uses the metaphor of sex, which is represented by the word hinano, itself the metonymy of the fara tree. The hinano is combined with the Vahine image. The color red on the vahine’s pareu is enticing and her body lines are smooth.
The brand taps into largely accepted Pacific myths to capture a sort of mana that is meant to be shared with consumers.

Brands like these can leverage huge potential abroad.
They can contribute to the promotion of the country and diffuse exotic images and sounds to potential future visitors.

So, cultural branding and local languages can service the tourism industry if they are skilfully manipulated.

You will find more linguistic techniques at http://bit.ly/2ShluS and branding services at http://bit.ly/altrNe

Tamatoa