What sound does a dog make in English? How about the same in Italian or Japanese? Dogs might sound the sale all over the world. However, you might be surprised to find out that animal noises are different in different languages. Animals might not be multilingual but the people describing the sounds they make are hence the difference.
The children’s song Old McDonald Had a Farm taught us so many languages that define animals. Children grow up knowing the sounds of these animals from such songs. From dogs all the way to donkeys. While this is fun, the children grow up knowing the English words for the sounds that define or describe certain animals. In this article, we are going to take a look at some of the most common sounds animals make and how they are pronounced in different languages. Are you taking a language class? Read along and get to practice your classes with different animal sounds.
Animal Sounds in Different Languages
Before we move to the sounds, what are the sounds called in English?
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Onomatopoeia
This is a word that mimics a certain sound described by a certain word. For example, when we say a dog woofs we describe the noise made by the dog and in a phonetic manner. The diversity of words used to describe these animal noises represent a unique flavor of different languages. The words are shaped by cultural differences as much as they are shaped by linguistic differences.
For example, dogs can be described in different sounds such as woof, ruff, bow wow, or growl. To help reflect different sounds made by different animals, we need a variety of words and for sure, a variety of words are available in different languages describing animal sounds.
How Different Animals Sound Like Around the World
Here, we will explore animal onomatopoeia in some of the most common languages. Let’s start with the most common animals and pets.
Dog
Woof – English
Gav Gav – Greek
Gav – Russian
Waouh – French
Guau – Spanish
Blaf – Dutch
Wan – Japanese
Voff – Icelandic
Ham – Romanian
Bau – Italian
Hev _ Turkish
Haap – Persian
Wong – Cantonese
Mjau – Swedish
Guk – Indonesian
When it comes to describing the dog, most of the languages describe it depending mostly on the breed that is most common in the area. Why? Because no one can imagine a Pit-bull or a German Shepherd making a sound like Haap like Persians describe it.
On the same, which dog even the smallest make the sound Meong as the Koreans describe it? it might have been that the breed most common in these regions during the naming of these sounds produced the sound and the locals decided to make it a uniform sound for describing dogs. To your amazement, if you go to a country like Korea, saying woof, growl, or yap wont startle the dog. It won’t even move an inch like you have called the name. However, if you say Meong, the dog is now attentive.
Cat
When it comes to cats, most languages agree on the sound made by cats. It’s difficult to get a cat that meows differently. However, the sounds agree but not all of them. The ones that agree also have their own variations of the cat.
Mjau – Swedish
Myau – Russian
Meow – English
Miau – Spanish
Meo – Vietnamese
Miao – Italian
Miaou – French
Yaong – Korean
Nyan – Japanese
Nau – Estonian
While some of these might be different in spelling, they are similar in pronunciation. It’s one reason you will visit Estonia and say Meow which is in English and get the cat’s attention. The vocabulary might be different but there is a similarity in pronunciation which makes it profound.
Pigs
Just like the cat, the sound the pig makes isn’t so different when described in different languages. Some languages however set themselves apart when it comes to these sounds.
Oink – English
Hunk – Albanian
Buu – Japanese
Grunz – German
Noff – Swedish
Knor – Dutch
See how different these are in different languages?
Duck
Thanks to the Old McDonald had a farm song, we know a duck quacks. We also hear of quack doctors right? These might not be related at all but the sound in different languages will make you wonder.
Quack – English
Rap – Danish
Mac –Romanian
Hap – Hungarian
Vak –Turkish
Coin – French
Praaks – Estonian
While these are so different, the reason might be its because of the different breeds of ducks in these countries or regions.
Horse
This one might be a bit tough even in English for some fellows.
Neigh – English
Vrinsk – Danish
Hihiin – Japanese
Gnagg – Swedish
I-haa – Polish
I-go-go – Russian
Nyihaha – Hungarian
The distinction is there but am not sure you would go to Sweden, make the i-haaa sound and not get the attention of the horse. In Russia however might be a different story.
Mice
This is a pet and a favorite especially in China, Korea, and even the United States. Let’s find out how it sounds in different languages.
Squeak – English
Piep – Dutch
Pip-pip – Swedish
Squitt – Italian
Zi – Mandarin
Chuu – Japanese
Jjik – Korean
Cin – Hungarian
Am not sure you can make the sound to get the attention of the mice but one thing is for sure. Mice sound adorable in almost all languages.
Cow
The explanation of some of these languages isn’t available. Maybe one of the native speakers of the languages who understands English explain the same to us. I mean how does a cow Eum-mae’s in Korea?
Moo – English
Meuh – French
Mu – Spanish
Eum-mae – Korean
Mo mom – Japanese
Mo – Turkish
Birds
These aren’t animals but their sounds are amazing in different languages. I had to include them here.
Tweet – English
Chun-Chun – Japanese
Pio-Pio – Spanish
Pip-Pip – Swedish
Tjiep – Dutch
Jick-Jick – Turkish
Chip – Italian
Tsiou Tsiou – Greek
The only sound here that is just like the language is Greek. Imagine struggling to make the chirp sound to a bird in Greek!
To some people, all of these might be confusing. Like how can a cow make such a weird sound. Like we said before, the cow isn’t bilingual but the people might be. To clarify, these aren’t the names of these animals in these languages. These are the sounds made by the animals in different languages.