( CULTURAL BRIEFING N^O 05 )

Subway in China and Taiwan

The fast-food chain’s accidental misstep

_EN

            I had a good laugh when I first stumbled upon Subway in Shanghai years ago — I think it was the branch at 南京东路 or 静安寺. Not because of the sandwiches, but because of the name.

            In China, Subway is called《赛百味》. On the surface, it works.「赛」is a neat phonetic translation of “Sub”, and also means race. While「百味」means a hundred flavours. Put together, it becomes something like a race of a hundred flavours — oddly poetic for a fast-food chain.

            But here’s the twist:「赛」is pronounced exactly like sai — “shit” in Hokkien (Southern Min). Anyone who grew up in Singapore or parts of Southeast Asia will immediately hear the wrong thing. It’s impossible not to.

            Which makes the oversight obvious: whoever named it didn’t check dialect connotations — a basic step in any multilingual market. And here is why I’m almost certain that is true: look at Subway in Taiwan. They simply call it “Subway”, without a Chinese name. Sometimes, it pays to be cautious.

            As a postscript, I love Subway. My usual is egg mayo with an extra scoop of tuna, plus a double chocolate chip cookie.

Notes from Ben:
This Cultural Briefing was first observed in Jan 2017, and written in Nov 2025. Slight revisions were made in Feb 2026.

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