# What language do foreign dogs speak? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 21, 2003, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-do-foreign-dogs-speak/196679 "2003-08-21T14:34:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-do-foreign-dogs-speak/196679/1 "2003-08-21T14:34:58Z")
Partly inspired by the thread about foreign “ouch”'s and partly inspired by Eddie Izzard. In one of his shows, he mentions that British dogs always say woof woof (and I assume american ones too). He then mentions that French ones say “Woa Woa”. Can anyone confirm this? What do dogs say in other languages? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-do-foreign-dogs-speak/196679/2 "2003-08-21T15:40:37Z")
Bakhesh: The only difference between “woof woof” and “woa woa” is the perception of the human hearing it. There is a class of words in all languages known as _onomatopoeia_[sup]1[/sup]. These are the words that humans use to name a thing or event so that the word used seems to have something to do with it. Since one person hearing a dog bark may be English and another person hearing that same dog bark may be French, each individual will express the sound heard by using the linguistic knowledge he has. So: “woof woof” = “woa woa” as they are merely different peoples’ different words for the same event. * * * [sup]1[/sup]Merriam-Webster online dictionary accessed 21 August 2003. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-do-foreign-dogs-speak/196679/3 "2003-08-21T16:00:00Z")
Actually, British dogs say “Woof woof, tea time, you know.” French dogs say “Le barque.” Canadian? “Woof, eh?” American dogs just shoot you. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-do-foreign-dogs-speak/196679/4 "2003-08-21T16:15:18Z")
But aren’t dogs _trained_ in different languages? I mean, a German dog wouldn’t answer to ‘speak’ would it? ---
**Author:** ![rodmunch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@rodmunch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rodmunch)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-do-foreign-dogs-speak/196679/5 "2003-08-21T16:15:58Z")
french ---
**Author:** ![adnan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@adnan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adnan)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-do-foreign-dogs-speak/196679/6 "2003-08-21T16:21:04Z")
they don’t speak they bark, yelp or make other noises. I wouldn’t say they speak though ---
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-do-foreign-dogs-speak/196679/7 "2003-08-21T16:24:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sunspace \* > \*\*But aren’t dogs _trained_ in different languages? I mean, a German dog wouldn’t answer to ‘speak’ would it? \*\* Good point. Has anyone every met a multilingual dog. I.e. one that responds to sit, and to “sitzen” (german for sit according to babel)? Monty, seeing as dogs can rarely write, you are kind of stating the obvious there. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-do-foreign-dogs-speak/196679/8 "2003-08-21T16:44:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sunspace \* > \*\*But aren’t dogs _trained_ in different languages? I mean, a German dog wouldn’t answer to ‘speak’ would it? \*\* Sure it would, if it was trained with the command “sit.” Same if it was trained with “sitzen”, “situation”, “rumplestilskin”, or “rasdnodpso.” ---
**Author:** ![tourbot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@tourbot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tourbot)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-do-foreign-dogs-speak/196679/9 "2003-08-21T16:52:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bakhesh \* > **Good point. Has anyone every met a multilingual dog. I.e. one that responds to sit, and to “sitzen” (german for sit according to babel)?** I would guess that: 1. A dog would not recognize the difference between sit and sitzen, if both were spoken in the same intonation, and would respond to either equally well. (Probably city, sitter, shit, or any variety of similar sounding words would work for the dog in question. Try it on your own dog, or a friends.) 2. A dog that was trained to sit when given the command “sit” would learn very quickly to sit when given the same request in any language, regardless of how different the word sounded (much more quickly than it took to train on the initial “sit”), since usually this is accompanied by gestures and other cues on the part of the command giver. Unless we are talking about a Skinnerian conditioned dog, of course, but most dogs aren’t trained that way. (It would be a much more inneficient and time consuming way to teach your dog to speak or sit anyway.) You could easily try this by selecting a word at random, and then teaching a dog that is trained to “sit” to sit to this word also. 3. Hi Opal! Or, as I see on preview that tdn more succinctly put it: the dog doesn’t actually understand the words, whatever language you are speaking them in. ---
**Author:** ![mipiace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@mipiace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mipiace)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-do-foreign-dogs-speak/196679/10 "2003-08-21T16:57:13Z")
In Italy a dog say Bow bow and you tell him to “Seduto!” In Germany you tell your hund to “platz!” Of course a dog will respond to whatever language they are used to hearing, the same as a child. And yes, there are multi lingual dogs but to a dog, it isn’t a big deal. It’s the same as asking “want a cookie?” 'Want a biscuit?" both meaning a milk bone…both are English but to the dog they both mean he is getting a treat. He doesn’t know if it is a different language. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-do-foreign-dogs-speak/196679/11 "2003-08-21T17:24:22Z")
I recently saw a story about an old elephant from some German zoo which had been sent to a Spanish zoo to spend its retirement years. They sent the German keeper with the intention of teaching the Spanish new keeper the words the elephant understood. A year later they followed up and we find out they gave up on trying to teach the Spanish keeper anything as they found out the old elephant was a better learner and learnt the Spanish commands much better than the Spanish guy could learn the German ones. ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-do-foreign-dogs-speak/196679/12 "2003-08-21T17:32:53Z")
We have a bomb detecting dog where I work. She’s a Belgian Malinois, who’s owner trained her in Dutch. I’m pretty sure she understands basic English commands as well. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-do-foreign-dogs-speak/196679/13 "2003-08-21T17:48:04Z")
Spanish dogs speak Perroin, French dogs speak Chienese and German dogs speak Hunduran. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-do-foreign-dogs-speak/196679/14 "2003-08-21T18:07:40Z")
Aren’t most American police dogs trained in German? I have heard this from police K9 officers. It’s to reduce the likelihood of an American criminal being able to command the dog. Though I doubt a police dog would do much of anything ordered by somebody other than its handler. ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Joe\_Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Random)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-do-foreign-dogs-speak/196679/15 "2003-08-21T18:11:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Monty \* > **So: “woof woof” = “woa woa” as they are merely different peoples’ different words for the same event.** To carry the thread a bit further in that direction, the Japanese onomatopoeia for a dog bark is _won won_. It seems like starting with a ‘w’ is a common theme. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-do-foreign-dogs-speak/196679/16 "2003-08-21T18:14:18Z")
I’m not stating the obvious. I’m stating the facts. The OP’s query asked what dogs say in other languages. Dogs don’t say jack (or any other words, for that matter). What they do, as adnan affirmed, dogs merely yelp or bark. They are not equipped with language; although they are trainable and have been trained to respond to commands given in a human language. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-do-foreign-dogs-speak/196679/17 "2003-08-21T18:18:03Z")
Joe Random: That bit about starting with w being a common theme depends on which languages one selects at random (I slay myself sometimes). Korean, IIRC, uses the expression “bong bong” for “woof woof.” ---
**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:** [August 21, 2003, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-do-foreign-dogs-speak/196679/18 "2003-08-21T18:28:48Z")
Of course, in English, dog’s sounds are still expressed different ways. An American dog might say “Woof”, “Ruff”, “Yip” or “Bow wow”, and my mom’s current dog really does say “Bark!”. Do other languages have similar diversity of representations of dog sounds? ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-do-foreign-dogs-speak/196679/19 "2003-08-21T18:35:16Z")
I lived in Germany one summer to improve my schwachdeutch (my word for ‘poor German’) and was a bit lonely at the beginning, as my German was so bad – I ended up playing with my hosts’ dog instead. What made them laugh was listening to me tell Rudi, ‘Sitzen Sie, bitte!’ and ‘Kommen Sie hier, bitte!’ since these are not only very polite, but very formal. They had trained him to sit with ‘Sitz!’ and to come with ‘Komm,’ or ‘Komm hier!’ which sounds much like English. This was in Lunzen, which is in northern Germany… By the way, the dog would give me a puzzled look, but I think knew what I wish cos of body language, clapping my hands, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Iteki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eada6e/32.png) [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-do-foreign-dogs-speak/196679/20 "2003-08-21T21:01:12Z")
Dogs in Sweden “say” vov, or voff. I knew a dog in Ireland who was bilingual in that he responded to commands in Irish and English. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-do-foreign-dogs-speak/196679.md?page=2)