# What do animals say in your \[non-English\] language? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 17, 2004, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319 "2004-11-17T19:21:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AwSnappity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@AwSnappity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AwSnappity)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/1 "2004-11-17T19:21:35Z")
I did a search for this before and found this [previous thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=167440&highlight=language+onomatopoeia). My intent is the same, but I’m hoping to get a larger variety of responses. In my linguistics class today, we were discussing how lexical items are assigned arbitrarily (we call a table “table” even though there is nothing about its form or its construction that leads us to that). The partial exception to this statement is the existence of onomatopoeias. Words that represent a certain sound. My professor is interested in finding out how people in non-English-speaking cultures transcribe certain onomatopoeias. For example, how do you replicate the noise a dog makes? Cat? Duck? Rooster? Chicken? Pig? Cow? Horse? Bee? Other animals? How do you replicate a sneeze? A scream? A fart? The act of swallowing? Other human noises? I’m looking for a variety of languages here–Polish, Mandarin, Italian, Portuguese, Tagalog, Afrikaans, Thai… whatever you speak. Let me know how to say it! ---
**Author:** ![Yamirskoonir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/c0e974/32.png) [@Yamirskoonir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yamirskoonir)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/2 "2004-11-18T01:20:35Z")
I might remember a few from my high school German class (our Frau forced us to sing the Deutsche version of “Old MacDonald”): Rooster: Krikeriki Cat: Miau Dog: Wau-wau Pig: grunz-grunz Cow: Muu-muu Donkey: I-A (pronounced eee-ahh) And [here’s](http://www.laits.utexas.edu/hebrew/personal/language/animals/sounds.html) a nifty page for specific animals across languages. ---
**Author:** ![mkl12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@mkl12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mkl12)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/3 "2004-11-18T01:22:22Z")
In German: Dog? Wau or Wuff Cat? Miau Duck? - Rooster? Kikerikii Chicken? - Pig? - Cow? Muh Horse? - Bee? - Other animals? Donkey I-Ah How do you replicate a sneeze? Hatschii A scream? - A fart? - The act of swallowing? - Other human noises? - For some of those that I didn’t answer there are words but they are not onomatopoeias. ---
**Author:** ![Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirror_Image_egamI_rorriM)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/4 "2004-11-18T01:24:42Z")
This isn’t English… When I was little, I was certain that the rooster said, “Dot! doo doo doo doo doo.” ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/5 "2004-11-18T03:45:40Z")
French: For example, how do you replicate the noise a dog makes? _ **Wouf wouf** _ Cat? _ **Miaou** _ Duck? _ **Coin coin** _ Rooster? _ **Cocorico!** _ Chicken? _ **Cot cot cot codac!** _ (hen) Pig? _ **Groin groin** _ Cow? _ **Meuh** _ Horse? _ **Cataclop** _ (hooves) Bee? _ **Bzzzzzz** _ How do you replicate a sneeze? _ **Atchoum!** _ A scream? _ **Aaaaaah!** _ A fart? _ **Prout!** _ ---
**Author:** ![Elenfair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cc9497/32.png) [@Elenfair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elenfair)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/6 "2004-11-18T03:58:02Z")
> [@jovan](#): > > French: > > For example, how do you replicate the noise a dog makes? _ **Wouf wouf** _ > Cat? _ **Miaou** _ > Duck? _ **Coin coin** _ > Rooster? _ **Cocorico!** _ > Chicken? _ **Cot cot cot codac!** _ (hen) > Pig? _ **Groin groin** _ > Cow? _ **Meuh** _ > Horse? _ **Cataclop** _ (hooves) > Bee? _ **Bzzzzzz** _ > How do you replicate a sneeze? _ **Atchoum!** _ > A scream? _ **Aaaaaah!** _ > A fart? _ **Prout!** _ For French Canada (very similar to the french stuff listed above - almost all the same, except for a few word endings here and there!) Cat? Miaou, sometimes Miou… Duck? Coin coin coin Rooster? Cocorico Chicken? Cot cot cot _or_ pok pok pok Pig? Groin, or Gnouff Cow? Meuh Horse? Heeeeiiiin… Bee? Bizzzzzz How do you replicate a sneeze? Atchou or Apitchou A scream? AAAAAAAAH! A fart? _prout_ or _sprout_ or _pffft!_ The act of swallowing? gloup, or “glou” for liquids 🙂 There are some regional variations. Yay for french in that sense… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/7 "2004-11-18T04:17:23Z")
> [@AwSnappity](#): > > My professor is interested in finding out how people in non-English-speaking cultures transcribe certain onomatopoeias. Well, in this case, it’s how an English speaker transcribes sounds used by Cantonese speakers, sounds which also have a written Chinese form. The following are fairly well attested: Cat: miu Dog: woh (pronounced as British English ‘war’ - no rhotic ‘r’ sound) Cow: mmm A sneeze: ha-chee (actually, more accurately ha-tsee, but usually rendered as given) A fart: but (pronounced boo(t), with no explosion on final consonant) ---
**Author:** ![pasunejen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58956e/32.png) [@pasunejen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pasunejen)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/8 "2004-11-18T04:24:39Z")
[Bzzzpeek!](http://www.flat33.com/bzzzpeek/html/bzzzpeek.html) It’s got recordings of people doing animal (and some vehicle) sounds from all kinds of languages. ---
**Author:** ![AwSnappity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@AwSnappity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AwSnappity)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/9 "2004-11-18T04:36:43Z")
This is awesome! Especially those links. Thanks a lot, everyone who replied! Those who haven’t, keep 'em coming! ---
**Author:** ![august9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7993a0/32.png) [@august9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/august9)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/10 "2004-11-18T08:18:05Z")
In Danish: Dog: Vov or vuf Cat: Mjav Duck: Raprap Rooster: Kykelikyy Pig: Grynt Cow: Muh Bee: Bzzz How do you replicate a sneeze: Atju A fart: Prut or prrrt The act of swallowing: Gulp Snoring: Zzzzz There’s probably more - but this was what I could think of at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/11 "2004-11-18T09:45:01Z")
Japanese: Dog: wan-wan Cat: niaou Pig: buu-buu Rooster: Ko-ki-ko-ko ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/12 "2004-11-18T09:50:47Z")
Oh, and swallowing is goku: in the Japanese translation of Lord Of The Rings, Gollum {remember, he’s named after the gulping noise he makes} is called Gokuro. God, there are way too many in Japanese to list - half of the language is insanely complex, the other half is baby-talk. Gusho-gusho means a wet slapping sound, and is often applied to sex… ---
**Author:** ![auRa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@auRa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auRa)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/13 "2004-11-18T10:11:55Z")
Finnish: Dog: Hau hau (pronounced “how how”) or vuh vuh Cat: Miau Duck: Kvaak kvaak Rooster: Kukkokiekuu (literally “kukko kiekuu”: “the rooster crows”) Pig: röh röh, or sometimes nöf nöf if you’re talking about piglets Cow: Ammuu Bee: Bzz or surrur How do you replicate a sneeze: Atsih! A fart: depends… maybe prrrt. The act of swallowing: _klunk_ Snoring: Krooh pyyh ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/14 "2004-11-18T12:11:36Z")
weirdly funny thread. sort of related, these are the _names_ of the animals in cantonese: rooster - kok kok gaii cat - mao * * * AYAH! ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/15 "2004-11-18T12:46:04Z")
In Thai, roosters say _ekki-ek-ek_! Which is a lot closer to what real roosters sound like than English. It’s also a hoot to get little kids to make this sound. If I remember I’ll get Mrs. Shibb to help me with the rest of these tonight. ---
**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:** [November 18, 2004, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/16 "2004-11-18T13:33:16Z")
Hebrew: Dog? - Hav Hav Cat? - Meow Duck? - Ga Ga Rooster? - Kookoorikoo Chicken? - (I have no idea.) Pig?- (Are you kidding? In _Hebrew_?) Cow? - Meh. Horse? - (I’m not sure there is a word for it). Bee?- Bzzzzz. Birds (random) - Tzvitz. How do you replicate a sneeze? - Apchee. A scream? - Aiiiiii! A fart? - Flotz. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/17 "2004-11-18T14:10:14Z")
When I was in 9th grade my Spanish One book had a list of animal sounds that are different in Spanish, French, Japanese and a couple of other languages. Of course, I don’t remember any of them now. Anyone know the Spanish ones? ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/18 "2004-11-18T14:37:02Z")
Sometimes my eldest cat, Sebastien, says to me: “_Je suis une chat. Miaou_.” My youngest cat, Kero-chan, often says: “_Watashi wa koneko-nyo_.” [/digi charat] ---
**Author:** ![AwSnappity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@AwSnappity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AwSnappity)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/19 "2004-11-18T15:16:26Z")
Wow! This is great! **Middlecase** : my roommate’s going to get a big kick out of _goshu goshu_! ---
**Author:** ![mlerose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@mlerose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlerose)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/20 "2004-11-18T17:37:05Z")
I have been told that in spanish, a dog says “Gwah, gwah” though probably not spelled that way. I also remember from a song about colors (De Colores, and you could probably google the lyrics) that a rooster says “cara cara”, a chicken says “kiri kiri” and a chick says “pio pio.” Hope that helps. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319.md?page=2)