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Comment by tivert | Hacker News Reader

> In English, it seems to be called rednote.

I know someone who speaks Chinese and uses that app. The name in Chinese Xiaohongshu clearly translates to "Little Red Book," and they're confused how anyone got "Red Note" out of it.

> My guess is, at the end we will see maybe some million users from the USA and some more millions from around the world moving to this app, and maybe bringing a new interaction between the countries, but the majority will end up somewhere else.

If that happens, Little Red Book will trigger exactly the same law that's banning TikTok.

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> and they're confused how anyone got "Red Note" out of it

"Little Red Book" is the literal translation of the original name but that's not the only way companies approach global markets, especially with longer to say names. It looks like they sometimes use "REDNote" (as it appears in App Stores), "RedNote", and sometimes just "RED" depending on the context (e.g. their advertisement/promotional email address is red.ad@xiaohongshu.com).

As to how they got there with it? "Little Red Book" is just an awkward mouthful to refer to compared to the alternative forms they used.

You're being facetious. The name Xiaohongshu is clearly a reference to Mao's book. And it's incorrectly translated as "Red Note" specifically to avoid the reference, not because it's a "mouthful".

If there was a German app called "My Strawberry" and you found out that the original German name translates to "My Struggle" you'd be very curious as to why the English name is so different and what they're trying to hide.

Re: Xiaohongshu - see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42714339

Can you explain the connection between "kampf" and strawberries? I don't speak enough German to get it or Google it.

Its a reference to Hitler's book Mein Kampf

I'm not sure where the humor or joke was supposed to be nor where I claimed the original name lacked said association. Similarly, I don't particularly see "RedNote" as a well aimed choice for a rebrand set about for the purpose of distancing the app from communist associations.

TikTok doesn't use their literal translation either. Not because the name had a certain association but because it'd've also been a terrible way to market the app globally. I could give some credit to the idea there may have been more than a singular reason for changing the name but I can't buy the reason other apps also do is not at least a major factor, if not the largest.

Also, not coincidentally, explicitly Communist-coded which isn't helpful for not getting banned in the US.

What law is that exactly?

"Protecting Americans’ Data From Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024"

https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/7520...

https://www.congress.gov/118/bills/hr7520/BILLS-118hr7520eh....

One could argue, and I think with a strong case that if this law applies to TikTok, it would also apply to Twitter (Saudi investment) and Snapchat (also Saudi investment).

Saudi Arabia is not on the list. It's Russia, Iran, North Korea, China.

> (4) FOREIGN ADVERSARY COUNTRY.—The term "foreign adversary country" means a country specified in section 4872(d)(2) of title 10, United States Code.

As written there are several problems with your theory: A) The bill is about transfer of user information, not investment in a company. B) Saudi Arabia owns a small, non controlling interest in Twitter/x C) Saudi Arabia is not on the list of foreign adversary countries

So you’d have a hard time making that ‘strong’ argument.

Unstated, I implied that Saudi Arabia should be on the list. That maybe the list should be behavioral instead of statutory.

SA has lead directly and indirectly to the loss of more American lives than any of those countries.

9/11 was perpetrated by mostly Saudis. Sum the knock on deaths as you will.

The killing of Jamal Khashoggi https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45812399

We are trying to get away from Saudi influence and control so much that we look the other way while we pump poison into our water. So much so that the Simpson's even have an episode devoted to it where Marge exclaims, "the water is on fire!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ29JFoVqCE

Maybe the list should be behavior based?

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 has provisions explicitly excluding protections for Communist organizations.

> > In English, it seems to be called rednote.

> I know someone who speaks Chinese and uses that app. The name in Chinese Xiaohongshu clearly translates to "Little Red Book," and they're confused how anyone got "Red Note" out of it.

I'll tell you a funny one like that in another language:

Instagram reels are well... short-form videos usually with music/audio and effects.

It's pronounced something like "real" but longer.

Anyway, in French that word "reel" is printed the same but since most people don't practice spoken English it's read and pronounced "réel". Something like ray-hell (notice the é). And it annoys me to no eeeend :D.

So, among French-speaking community management crews and social network teams you hear "réel"/ray-hell all the time instead of "reel".

And how do you translate "réel" into English ? You guessed it: it's "real".

It's called REDnote—小红书国际版 in the Google Play store. That's the exact way it is currently listed.

> and they're confused how anyone got "Red Note" out of it.

It's actually just what it's called in the US app stores: "REDnote—小红书国际版"

Little red book means something different in 1970s China. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotations_from_Chairman_Mao_T...

People are trying to do away with that association, but it still boggles my mind why the app is called LRB in the first place.

Yeah but "little red book" (xiaohongshu) in mandarin is not actually how the original Mao Little Red Book is called in Mandarin, either formally or informally. Informally in mandarin it's called hongbaoshu (literally "red cover book" and formally, as you can imagine, is like Quotes from Chairman Mao).

So this is a case of translators with an agenda translating two phrases with different original mandarin renditions (hongbaoshu and xiaohongshu), and picking and choosing the style of translation (base on usage vs based on character) to get the English translation to merge both of them as "Little Red Book".

Not really. Mao's book has been known as the "Little Red Book" in English for decades, well before the app existed.

And the characters for "小红书" directly and literally translate to "little", "red", and "book". It's the most literal and obvious translation of the name, no agenda needed. Go ask any Chinese person.

The app didn't even have an English name until recently. It was just "小红书" which any Chinese person would render in English as "Little Red Book". "RedNote" is a recent branding exercise.

> If that happens, Little Red Book will trigger exactly the same law that's banning TikTok.

We will see, but I would think if they gain 2-5 Million Users, it wouldn't but of much concern for the feds. Unless they gain access to a specific vulnerable group.

> We will see, but I would think if they gain 2-5 Million Users, it wouldn't but of much concern for the feds. Unless they gain access to a specific vulnerable group.

The way the law is written, any adversary-controlled social network with more than 1 million MAU could be affected.

I think they'd ban it if it started gaining traction outside of Chinese immigrant communities. And it'd make sense to do it early, now that they have the legal power to do so, since it'd avoid controversy. No one would have cared about the TikTok ban if they did it when it was at 1-2 million MAU.

Because the posts are called notes and the book is a notebook, capiche?

It's branded on google play as “REDnote”

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