goodcharacters

  Location: Fresno, CA, USA
  Remote: Yes
  Willing to relocate: Open to short-term travel for in-person engagements in the Bay Area, Atlanta, Seattle, and Los Angeles
  Technologies: Brand Language Strategy, Chinese Naming Expertise, AI Integration Collaboration, 
                PHP, Swift, SQL, Front-end and Back-end Web Development, Adobe Creative Suite
  Résumé/CV: https://shop.goodcharacters.com/blogs/good/info-deck-2025
  Email: andy@goodcharacters.com

As the founder of Good Characters, I bring over 20 years of experience creating high-stakes, legally compliant Chinese names for global leaders in technology, finance, energy, and consumer goods. My proven process includes:

* Extensive Research: Generating a comprehensive list of culturally appropriate and impactful name candidates.

* Deliverables: Providing a detailed 100+ page naming report and a concise executive summary.

* Collaboration: Working closely with your team across America and Greater China to ensure trademark readiness and alignment with your goals.

In addition to naming, I can support your team with:

* Brand Language Strategy: Developing a consistent and impactful vocabulary for Chinese communications, aligned seamlessly with your English brand language.

* AI Integration Collaboration: Creating processes to train AI models that refine and customize your brand language for better consistency and cultural relevance.

My technical skills include proficiency in PHP, Swift, SQL, web development, and the Adobe Creative Suite, ensuring a seamless blend of branding expertise with technology.

My work has been featured in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and other prominent publications. I also hold a Master’s Degree in Psychology, which deepens my ability to craft messaging that resonates with diverse audiences. Recognized for the national significance of my expertise in Chinese naming, I was approved for immigration to pursue this important work. I’m eager to use my skills to support U.S. businesses in creating meaningful cultural connections and expanding their global reach. While I prefer remote work, I’m open to short-term travel for in-person collaborations as needed. Let’s connect to discuss how I can help with your branding and naming initiatives.

I uploaded our announcement for the Good Characters Chinese Character of the Year 2024 to NotebookLM and had it make a Deep Dive. The results are pretty amazing! However, the Chinese characters aren’t pronounced correctly in the video. If there’s enough interest—like if you leave comments—I’ll take the time to add the correct Chinese pronunciations. Let me know what you think! https://youtu.be/RydZwg6Dg2A?feature=shared

From your perspective, what would your personal pick be if you were choosing the Word of the Year? Our Character of the Year is 險: thrill (驚險), risk (風險), danger (危險), and close call (好險). My personal word of the year is patience. Some others have chosen words like tranquility, awesome, unhinged, adapt, terrible, mixed, steadfast, content, distrust, magnificent, or endurance.

The Good Characters Chinese Character of the Year 2023 is 生 (shēng), symbolizing birth and growth, and distinctly echoing the emergence and impact of generative (生成式, shēng chéng shì) AI, a defining technological advancement of the year.

Mandarin and Cantonese, two of several Chinese dialects, share the same Chinese writing system based on Chinese characters. But the same character is pronounced differently depending on the dialect. So a name can be transliterated in "Cantonese way" or "Mandarin way," yes.

I recommend authors and public figures to decide on their own official Chinese names. Unless a well-known person declares his or her Chinese name, Chinese reporters have to make one up or see how others transliterate it. The Chinese language is full of homophones; thus, there are literally thousands of ways an alphabetical name can be converted into Chinese. Unlike most other languages, Chinese has no standard way to translate names.

There is no one central authority in regard to Chinese names. Reporters in China, Hong Kong, or Taiwan — each of these regions is its own trademark jurisdiction — often have their own ideas. This results in multiple Chinese names for the same person, each with its own meanings and connotations that often are not the best.

That's a good idea ;-P I've been working on it but it's only for our internal use at this time. Chinese names are also required in some counties in California. I shared the following in our blog: The California State Legislature passed a bill this year (and it was approved by the Governor on July 12) that requires phonetic transliterations of candidates’ alphabet-based names to appear on ballots and ballot materials in jurisdiction required to translate ballot materials into character-based languages. https://service.goodcharacters.com/daily/20190701-ab-57-cand...

I'd say just do it! It'll help you and you'll become an expert. I've been trying to post daily for two years without success. 6 days ago I restarted again (https://service.goodcharacters.com/daily/) and so far so good. I hope you'll do it right away and don't worry about what people think. I read so many good comments here so there's nothing for me to add. Just like taking pictures helps me see/observe; writing helps me focus and think better. I hope you do it.

I want to produce something that all language levels can enjoy. It's like "the word of the day" thing to serve as a supplement to their own existing learning. Do you think it's too hard for most people? Thank you.

It was the first time I observed and recorded a lunar eclipse (been living under a rock). I shared because I thought some people might enjoy watching it especially if they didn't or couldn't see it from where they live. I grew up in a place that was cloudy half of the time. My video is not professional and great looking like NASA's but it's how you would see it from my backyard.

I recorded this: http://youtu.be/zjOYqiVw7nY

Enjoy!

I've just read this: Sarah Colwill Speaks Out About Foreign Accent Syndrome In BBC Documentary 'The Woman Who Woke Up Chinese' (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/04/sarah-colwill-_n_38...)

This is the first time I heard “Foreign Accent Syndrome.” Very interesting.