# In Languages Other Than English, Do (Song)Birds "Sing"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 17, 2022, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-languages-other-than-english-do-song-birds-sing/968104 "2022-07-17T17:58:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-languages-other-than-english-do-song-birds-sing/968104/1 "2022-07-17T17:58:31Z")
And if so, are songbirds called “birds of song” or whatever? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-languages-other-than-english-do-song-birds-sing/968104/2 "2022-07-17T18:08:06Z")
> [@](#): > > Un oiseau chante ne sais où > C’est je crois ton âme qui veille > Parmi tous les soldats d’un sou > Et l’oiseau charme mon oreille [https://www.classements.net/plus-beaux-oiseaux-chanteurs/](https://www.classements.net/plus-beaux-oiseaux-chanteurs/) ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-languages-other-than-english-do-song-birds-sing/968104/3 "2022-07-17T19:06:57Z")
Yes, in many Indian languages. For example in Hindi : 1. Very common to refer to Koyal (the Asian Koel / Indian Cuckoo) singing to find its mate [Asian koel - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_koel) 2. The peacock sings to welcome the monsoon …… and many other songbirds ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-languages-other-than-english-do-song-birds-sing/968104/4 "2022-07-17T19:15:57Z")
[Moderating] This is a US-based board, and most of our members speak only English. In particular, if the OP were familiar with any languages other than English, he wouldn’t have needed to ask the question. Please provide a translation for anything posted in other languages. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-languages-other-than-english-do-song-birds-sing/968104/5 "2022-07-17T19:21:01Z")
> [@am77494](#): > > The peacock sings to welcome the monsoon I’d be hard pressed to consider the sounds peacocks make as “song”. They also occur naturally in scrub desert. Do they even get to experience monsoons? ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-languages-other-than-english-do-song-birds-sing/968104/6 "2022-07-17T19:23:33Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > I’d be hard pressed to consider the sounds peacocks make as “song”. The OP did not ask what you consider as “song”. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-languages-other-than-english-do-song-birds-sing/968104/7 "2022-07-17T19:41:08Z")
Of course. I think it is not so quick to translate poetry off the cuff; it is “A bird sings” by Guillaume Apollinaire which begins something like “A bird is singing, I know not where / I believe it is your soul keeping watch / Amidst the twopenny soldiers / And the bird charms my ear” followed by a (computer-generated?) link with pictures of the “world’s 10 most beautiful songbirds” ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-languages-other-than-english-do-song-birds-sing/968104/8 "2022-07-17T19:57:07Z")
The German translation for “songbird” is the exact equivalent, “Singvogel”. ETA: I think since birds all over the world sing, and people all over the world have music, almost all cultures equate birds’ and peoples’ songs. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-languages-other-than-english-do-song-birds-sing/968104/9 "2022-07-17T20:01:39Z")
Los pajaros cantan en Español tambien (Birds sing in Spanish too) ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-languages-other-than-english-do-song-birds-sing/968104/10 "2022-07-17T20:26:28Z")
Pero también _trinan_. (But they also make tshrrrriiiip tshrrriiiip) y _gorjean_ (like canary birds). Ravens and ducks _graznan_: they make kraaah! kraaah!. Yes, it’s the same word for both. Other birds _estridulan_ (stridulate), a word that is also used for insects. Song birds in Spanish are called _pájaros cantores_, which is another way to say _singing birds_, i.e. songbirds. In general biologists say that birds vocalize (_vocalizan_). There are other words for the sounds birds make, like chicken _cacarean_, parrots talk! (_hablan_) and more I can’t think of right now of the top of my hat. Maybe I’ll come later when I remember them. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-languages-other-than-english-do-song-birds-sing/968104/11 "2022-07-17T20:28:15Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > I’d be hard pressed to consider the sounds peacocks make as “song”. You could say the same about most birds, but their sounds are still called ‘song’ in English. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-languages-other-than-english-do-song-birds-sing/968104/12 "2022-07-17T22:51:24Z")
In Hebrew, songbird is “_tzippor_ (bird) _shir_ (song)” (While “shir” can mean either “song” or “poem”, in context it means the former, as not many birds can quote T.S. Eliot.) ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2022, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-languages-other-than-english-do-song-birds-sing/968104/13 "2022-07-18T01:39:52Z")
Norwegian also has songbirds and bird song. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2022, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-languages-other-than-english-do-song-birds-sing/968104/14 "2022-07-18T05:38:32Z")
In Afrikaans, birdsong is _voëlgesang_, exactly the same. And a songbird is a _sangvoël_, exactly the same. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2022, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-languages-other-than-english-do-song-birds-sing/968104/15 "2022-07-18T06:53:33Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > You could say the same about most birds, but their sounds are still called ‘song’ in English. With some rather prominent exceptions. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say that chickens or turkeys “sing.” (Yes I know you said “most,” and that the thread is about _song_ birds specifically. Just making it explicit.) ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2022, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-languages-other-than-english-do-song-birds-sing/968104/16 "2022-07-18T07:16:33Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > You could say the same about most birds, but their sounds are still called ‘song’ in English. There are many bird vocalizations (including from songbirds) that are not songs, either colloquially or technically. > **[Bird vocalization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_vocalization)** > > Bird vocalization includes both bird calls and bird songs. In non-technical use, bird songs are the bird sounds that are melodious to the human ear. In ornithology and birding, songs (relatively complex vocalizations) are distinguished by function from calls (relatively simple vocalizations). > The distinction between songs and calls is based upon complexity, length, and context. Songs are longer and more complex and are associated with territory and courtship and mating, while calls tend to serve... ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2022, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-languages-other-than-english-do-song-birds-sing/968104/17 "2022-07-18T07:22:45Z")
The Danish surname _Fuglsang_ means birdsong. > **[Jakob Fuglsang](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakob_Fuglsang)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > Grand Tours > Stage races ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2022, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-languages-other-than-english-do-song-birds-sing/968104/18 "2022-07-18T12:15:28Z")
That’s funny, I just read the news that Jakob Fuglsang had to leave the Tour de France because of a broken rib. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2022, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-languages-other-than-english-do-song-birds-sing/968104/19 "2022-07-18T13:21:18Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > In Hebrew, songbird is “_tzippor_ (bird) _shir_ (song)” Yes, but I honestly don’t know how long that phrase has been used, i.e., whether it is a native Hebrew word or just a translation from English or some other modern language. What I _do_ know is that the verb for how birds vocalize is “tziftzuf” (or “tziphtzuph”), and has been such for millennia. This is (to me) an untranslatable case of onomatopoeia. It is usually translated as “twitter” or “chirp”, and I leave it to the reader to opine on whether “sing” might also be an acceptable translation. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2022, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-languages-other-than-english-do-song-birds-sing/968104/20 "2022-07-18T16:19:17Z")
Is there a TzF root that could help disambiguate this? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-languages-other-than-english-do-song-birds-sing/968104.md?page=2)