In English, a snake’s sound is a hiss.
In English, dropping a whole bunch of metal makes a clang.
What are onomatopoeiac sounds in other languages?
In French, objects falling into water go plouf!. And IIRC ducks say coin (“kwan”).
In Italian, roosters don’t crow “cock-a-doodle-doo!” – they shriek “chi-chi-ri-chi!” (with the “ch” pronounced with a hard K, as in “character”).
In Japanese (at least in anime!Japanese <_< ), the sound of a barking dog is ‘wan’, and the sound a cat makes is ‘nyan’. A gun goes ‘ban!’.
Japanese manga is rife with onomatopoeia. Nearly every action is accompanied by a particular sound. Here’s a sample list. The example that’s always stuck with me, when I first read about Japanese onomatopoeia, was ‘burun burun’ – the sound of breasts being released. 
A very old, wonderful example of French onomatopeia - the song says, in effect, when you’re in love, every sound you hear reminds you that you’re in love. Throughout the song, he (Charles Trenet) demonstrates all the sounds you might hear that remind you of this.
I love this song.
There is lots of onomatopaeia (spelling?) in French.
A hub-bub or an uproar is a “brouhaha”, the sound a crowd makes.
The horn on a car is a “claxon” pronounced “Klak-son”
“Sifler” is to whistle.
And my favourite is “cracher” to spit or spit up (Pronounced like Crash-ay).
:mad:
That’s my personal song he wrote for me! I hate you for telling everybody! I didn’t even click the link and I know what you’re talking about (“Boum”, right?).
Chinese sounds off the top of my head:
- A cat goes “miao” (flat tone), just like in English.
- A dog goes “wang” (falling tone)
- A rooster goes either “gugugu” (flat tone) or “gegege” (flat tone)
- A gun, when fired, goes “biang” (falling tone)
Korean roosters go: kko-kki-yo! Dogs go: wal, wal. Cats go: ya-ong.
Sound of something making a splash: poong-deong.
Sound of wings flapping: pa-dak-pa-dak.
Sound of a crash: kwa-dang!
Sound of a train: chik-chik-pok-pok.
In Spanish, dogs say guau guau (wow-wow, more or less), cats say miau, roosters say kikiriki, and chicks say pio pio.
The Hebrew word for “bottle” is bak-buk, onomatopeotica for the sound when you pour water out of a bottle. (Think: bak-buk-bak-buk-bak-buk)
BTW, I don’t think this is really a Cafe Society thread, it’s really more suited to General Questions since you’re looking for reality-based answers. However, I’m leaving it here because I’m feeling whimsical this morning.
The ancient Greeks labeled those who did not speak their language with the mocking term βάρβαρος (barbaros). Yes, it’s the root of the word barbarian, but in the proper context means something more akin to “the people who can’t speak properly but just mumble nonsense (bar-bar).”
I wasn’t sure, since it was languages. Enjoy your whimsy this morning!
In French:
a pig goes groin-groin (short nasal ‘n’)
a rooster says coco rico!
a frog goes bibbit, bibbit
a duck says coin coin (sounds like quan quan, short nasal ‘n’)
a cow says meuh, and the verb is meugler
wolves hurlent houhouou!
a donkey brays Hi-han!
and fish gloup-glou
In German:
cattle go Muh
roosters go Kikeriki
frogs and ducks both go Quak
dogs go Wau or Wuff
donkeys go I-A
sparrows go Tschilp
Also quietschen (to squeak), Knall (a bang), wiehern (to whinny), knacken (to crack) etc. - it seems certain words tend to be onomatopetic across many languages.
Which means they can understand Spanish roosters just fine; these say Kikirirí. Hens say coc-coc-coc.
Cats say miau and the verb is maullar, dogs say guau (sounds like wow) but the verb is ladrar.
Birds say pío-pío, the verb is piar.
There’s a restaurant near my work that’s called Pio Pio.
Not just onomatopeia but a pun too. In anime sometimes when somebody does something stupid a crow appears and screams “Baka!” (Stupid)
Apparently Alligators, dinosaurs and giant robotic tigers go “Gao”.
I’ve been wondering about “fumyuu” and “puyuu” are these imitations of baby talk? How about ending sentences in -su?