# 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:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/21 "2004-11-18T18:01:20Z")
**Female chicken, reviewing her Euchre score–** Buck, buck, buck, buck, buck 😛 ---
**Author:** ![gum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/22 "2004-11-18T23:04:29Z")
in Dutch: Cat - miauw Duck - kwaak kwaak Rooster - kukelekuuuuu Chicken - tok tok toooook tok Pig - knor knor Cow - boe Horse - hihihihihi Bee- zoemmmm Other animals? - Sheep - behehehe. Crow - kaa kaaa. How do you replicate a sneeze? - Hatsjoe! A scream? - HAAAAAAAAA A fart? - pfeeiuw [soft one] The act of swallowing? - gluk Other human noises? - Burp - buuugh. Hiccup - hik. Orgasm - Woeeeee. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![violacrane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c57346/32.png) [@violacrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/violacrane)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/23 "2004-11-18T23:05:11Z")
The French mother of a friend rendered a purring cat as “Ron ron, ron ron.” With onamatopoeically rolled "r"s of course. ---
**Author:** ![gum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/24 "2004-11-18T23:07:35Z")
Da Do ron ron, Da do ron ron? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/25 "2004-11-19T08:38:37Z")
> [@mlerose](#): > > 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.” My mom used to sing that song to me as a lullaby when I was little. I still love it. \*De colores, de colores se visten los campos en la primavera De colores, de colores de los pajaritos que vienen de afuera De colores, de colores en el arco iris que viene lucir Y por eso los grandes amores de muchos colores me gustan a mí [bis] Canta el gallo, canta el gallo con el quiri quiri quiri quiri quiri La gallina, la gallina con el cara cara cara cara cara Los polluelos, los polluelos con el pío pío pío pío pi Y por eso los grandes amores de muchos colores me gustan a mí [bis]\* ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/26 "2004-11-19T09:35:19Z")
> [@AwSnappity](#): > > Wow! This is great! > > **Middlecase** : my roommate’s going to get a big kick out of _goshu goshu_! I use my powers only for Good. ---
**Author:** ![c\_carol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@c\_carol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_carol)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/27 "2004-11-19T15:59:53Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > La gallina, la gallina con el cara cara cara cara cara Babelfish renders this line as “The hen, the hen with the expensive face expensive expensive face” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/28 "2004-11-19T22:31:07Z")
In Middle Egyptian, the word for donkey is spelled aA (well, I mean, they wrote it in hieroglyphs, but the sounds they used were one like an ayin, or guttural Arabic “ah” sound, followed by probably a glottal stop, and I wrote it using the typographical conventions for transcription). So there’s some onomatopoeia for you. I believe the same word evolved into Coptic EIW (W being an omega because I’m too lazy to figure out how to post Greek letters), pronounced something like “EEEEE-OHHH.” OK, so maybe they didn’t extend it like that, but I like to so I remember what the word means. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/29 "2004-11-19T23:37:04Z")
I took Russian for a couple years in college. The only one I remember is the dog, which goes (transliterated, of course): “Kaf! Kaf!” –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![New\_Iskander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/db5fbb/32.png) [@New\_Iskander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Iskander)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/30 "2004-11-20T06:42:53Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Pig?- (Are you kidding? In _Hebrew_?) I heard there are pig farms in Israel and most supermarkets have a ham and bacon stall somewhere in the corner. Not true? ---
**Author:** ![MisterThyristor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecccb3/32.png) [@MisterThyristor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MisterThyristor)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2004, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/31 "2004-11-21T01:54:48Z")
What about spitting? I used to have some of the Charles Schultz’s Peanuts books in French, and I remember when Snoopy spits Woodstock back into his nest in one frame, instead of “ptui!”, the sound is rendered “toc!” ---
**Author:** ![Coilean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f6c823/32.png) [@Coilean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coilean)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2004, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/32 "2004-11-21T23:23:31Z")
**AwSnappity** , [Here’s another link](http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/ballc/animals/) you might be intersted in. I forget how I came across this, but I seem to remember Cecil discussing the topic once before. ---
**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 22, 2004, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/33 "2004-11-22T12:43:08Z")
> [@New Iskander](#): > > I heard there are pig farms in Israel and most supermarkets have a ham and bacon stall somewhere in the corner. Not true? Yes and no. There is pig farming in Israel, although nowhere near the scale of chicken, beef and turkey; and while most supermarkets in Israel sell only kosher food, there are a few non-kosher chains, and plenty of non-kosher butchers. While the largest consumers of pork are, of course, the Russian immigrants, many Israelis eat it as well. The Asian place I went to on Friday had bacon in some of its dishes, although I myself didin’t have any. ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/34 "2004-11-22T13:39:20Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Hebrew: > How do you replicate a sneeze? - Apchee. Could this come from German via Yiddish? I noticed my German friends say ‘apchee’ for sneeze too. ---
**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 23, 2004, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/35 "2004-11-23T09:49:37Z")
> [@Martha](#): > > Could this come from German via Yiddish? I noticed my German friends say ‘apchee’ for sneeze too. Very likely. A lot of Hebrew slang (and that’s what this thread is about, after all - children’s slang) somes from Yiddish, or even directly from German: for instance, the commonly used word for “bite” (as in “gimme a bite of your sandwich”) is _biss_. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2004, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319/36 "2004-11-23T11:27:31Z")
Swedish: Cat - Mjau Duck - Kvack Rooster - Kuckeliku Pig - Noff (imagine two dots above the o; I’m at a non-Swedish keyboard) Cow - Mu Horse - Gnagg (imagine two dots above the a) Bee - Surr Sneeze - Atjoo A scream - Aaaaaaa, perhaps. A fart - Prutt The act of swallowing - Gulp [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-animals-say-in-your-non-english-language/275319.md?page=1)