Activating Sound and Meaning: The Role of Language Proficiency in Bilingual Consumer Environments

Abstract

How do bilingual consumers process bilingual information? Prior research indicates that stimulus-related concepts (type of name translation and language emphasis) play a critical role. We extend this research by including language proficiency as a key person-related concept. When asking Chinese-English bilinguals to evaluate dual brand names, we find that proficient consumers prefer sound translation when the English name is emphasized but meaning translation when the Chinese name is emphasized. In contrast, less proficient bilinguals engage in semantic processing of the dual names. These results suggest that proficiency must be added as a key concept to a framework that addresses bilingual consumer environments.

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