Ronald Mcdonald, also known as McDonald’s is a famous fast-food corporation in the world with about 36,000 restaurants in 119 countries, serving more than 43 million visitors per day under its own brand. The company was first founded in 1940 by brothers Richard and Maurice (“Mick & Mack”) McDonald. The foundation of today’s successful business is Ray Kroc’s acquisition of McDonald’s brothers and evolving into one of the world’s most successful fast food business projects. So, do you know what is Ronald Mcdonald called in Japan? And what are things that you do not know about it? Let’s read the following article of Viknews.com to know more interesting information.

What is Ronald Mcdonald called in Japan?

One of the world’s most famous corporate mascots has a slightly different name in Japan, where Ronald McDonald is known as Donald McDonald. In Japanese, the character’s name is written as ドナルド・マクドナルド (Donarudo Makudonarudo). Similarly, the McDonald’s backed charity is locally known as the Donald McDonald House.

The burger chain first came to Japan in 1971, so generations have grown up with McDonald’s and its smiling clown Donarudo. Japanese people are often surprised to learn that outside the country the character is known as “Ronald McDonald.” No wonder the character’s non-Japanese name is even a trivia question!

Explain the discrepancy of the Japanese name of McDonald

But why the discrepancy? Website Gaku-sha asked McDonald’s Japan, and in short, the name was changed because saying “Ronald McDonald” is difficult in Japanese. Online, I’ve seen people say this is because it’s hard for Japanese speakers to pronounce the letter “r.” That’s an oversimplification. When the character’s name is written in Japanese, people are not confronted with English “r” sounds or “l” sounds, but native Japanese sounds and how those sounds flow together or clash.

When written in Japanese, Ronald McDonald is ロナルド・マクドナルド (Ronarudo Makudonarudo), and having a “ro” (ロ) sound so close to a “ru” (ル) makes “Ronarudo” difficult to say in Japanese. That’s probably why soccer stars like Ronaldo and Cristiano Ronaldo, both of whom have done commercials in Japan, write “Ronaldo” as ロナウド (Ronaudo) with ウ (u) and not ロナルド (Ronarudo) with “ru” (ル).

But, while Ronaudo Makudonarudo would be easier for Japanese to say, visually, ロナウド・マクドナルド (Ronaudo Makudonarudo) doesn’t look as good as ドナルド・マクドナルド (Donarudo Makudonarudo), nor does it roll off the tongue in the same way. In Japan, McDonald’s is Makudonarudo (マクドナルド), so Donarudo Makudonarudo has a pleasant ring to it, just like Ronald McDonald sounds nice in English. Plus, “Donarudo” (ドナルド) is a famous character name in Japan thanks to Donald Duck, making the name familiar and easy to say.

Interestingly, most of the other McDonald’s characters have similar monikers to their American counterparts. For example, Grimace is Gurimasu (グリマス), the Hamburglar is Hanbaaguraa (ハンバーグラー), and Big Mac Police is Biggu Makku Porisu (ビッグマックポリス). Mayor McCheese, however, has been changed for Japan, where the character is Meiyaa Cheezu Makku (メイヤーチーズマック).

3 things McDonald’s won’t tell you

Profit of McDonald’s is going down

Founded in 1948, McDonald’s is the largest chain of fast food restaurants in the United States, with three times the volume of Subway – its biggest competitor, according to the QSR trade magazine. With more than 36,000 stores, McDonald’s serves nearly 70 million diners each day, bringing in revenue up to 27.44 billion USD in 2018. However, things are no longer easy with McDonald’s as before. Although the revenue is still high, the net income of the group in the fourth quarter of 2018 decreased by 21% compared to the same period of the previous year. Nation’s Restaurant News shared: 2018 was McDonald’s worst performance year for decades.

Low salary

On its website, McDonald’s is “proud” of its “challenging but well-rewarding” work for 1.9 million employees (including franchised restaurants). However, like most other fast food restaurants, McDonald’s has recently been involved in troubles from workers’ indignation that criticizes them for being paid too low. Fast Food Forward Federation of Fast Food Labor Federation launched the “Fight for 15 USD” campaign which requires an increase of 15 USD / h in wages for industry workers – a new wage is considered “enough to live” in the USA.

Lie about the charity campaign

McDonald’s philanthropic efforts are shown through its organization Ronald McDonald’s House Charities (RMHC) – seeking and supporting better child health and parenting programs. As a part of that, RMHC has built 300 houses of compassion worldwide, providing shelter for relatives of sick children located in nearby hospitals with care conditions. McDonald’s is very proud of this activity and regularly promotes it.

However, there have been doubts about the generosity of McDonald’s. Health lawyer Michele Simon published a report: “Charity farce” in 2013, revealing that McDonald’s actually contributed only one-fifth of RMHC’s operating budget. In addition, the Group also criticized 0.32% of pre-tax profit before tax – a much lower rate than other groups of similar size (averaging 1.01%). The report concludes: The company’s contribution is not commensurate with words. McDonald’s spokesman did not comment on this report, but Vice President Bridget Coffing called it “a shame” and gave false information.

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