1. A Rose Is Not A Rose, Across Borders
This article was originally published on the Acclaro Blog.
Category: Culture
Put away your wool coat and get out your linen. It’s spring again! And spring means
flowers – even in the desert of Joshua Tree National Park.
Thousands of miles away in The Netherlands, flowers mean a multi-billion dollar
business. $3,487,749,930 to be exact, according to the Flower Council of Holland and
as quoted on the PBS documentary “The Botany of Desire” website.
The country with the largest per-capita flower consumption? Switzerland, followed by
Norway and then the tulip masters themselves, Holland.
Americans buy more than 1.5 trillion cut roses a year. We suspect that most of them
are red, symbolizing “love” in American culture, but does a red rose mean the same
thing across borders and oceans? It’s a good idea to do some research before sending
flowers to a friend or colleague abroad in order to avoid an embarrassing flower faux
pas.
About Acclaro: Acclaro is an international translation and localization company that
helps the world’s leading brands succeed across cultures. We translate websites,
marketing campaigns, documents and software to give clients an authentic voice in
key language markets.
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Page 1: A Rose Is Not A Rose, Across Borders Copyright © Acclaro 2012