Domestic animal sounds

[manarai]

Hello to everyone! A lurker from Poland here :)

I have a question which may very well serve as a comic relief, I guess. Just today I told a friend of mine that English-speaking roosters go cock-a-doodle-doo (seemed pretty innocent, as far as off-hand remarks go) and she dissolved into helpless giggles, because apparently - honestly, imagine a

Comments

[inspirethoughts]

Interesting question. I come from Indian background and India has several languages. I can tell what the animal sounds are in my native language (Telugu - a South Indian language):

1) Rooster = KukkuruKu or KokkoroKo
2) Cattle: Amba
3) Cat: Meow
4) Dog: Bhow Bhow
5) Sheep / Goat: Baaa

I dont remember about the rest.

[manarai]

Funny how you have the same sound for sheep and goats :) Here in Poland sheep go beee, goats go meee (and hey, I think I can hear a difference...!) and only big old rams go baaa.

[inspirethoughts]

I dont exactly know what Sheep and Goat tell in my language. It could be "Maeee" for Goat and "Baaa" for Sheep...Not sure exactly.

[wekhter]

In French, a dog says "ouaf" or "ouah" which I always found very funny.

Cows say "mueh" which is a bit more apathetic than "moo". Cats go "miaou."

And though not a domestic animal at all, in Japanese a lion roars "GAOOOO"

This kind of thing has always interested me also, especially since the word "cat" is "mow" in Thai (erm only tonal and stuff) and that's also what they say. :3 Chinese is similar, yes?

By the way, while trying to remember how to spell "meuh" I found this page of animal sounds.

[verrucaria]

There's a breed of cats called the Egyptian mau that's supposed to look close to what originally domesticated cats looked like, and the name (mau=cat) has got to be onomatopoeic. :)

[conuly]

http://www.eleceng.adelaide.edu.au/personal/dabbott/animal.html
http://www.lonympics.co.uk/AAAaC.htm

There was a flash page, but I can't find it now.

It seems to vary within languages too. Like, I was taught that in French pigs say neuf, neuf, neuf (and birds say huit, huit, huit), but apparently that joke about pigs being smarter than birds only works in Belgium because I've had people argue the point with me.

And it goes as far as non-animals sounds too. I learned, in the US, that sirens go "Wee-ooo". I've heard young children (same city, even!) going "Woo-WOO!" for sirens, and I know that in Britain they go nee-naa.

[manarai]

After posting I stumbled upon a Wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-linguistic_onomatopoeias

and it has other sounds too, not just animals :)

[wekhter]

I hear sirens all the time, and I always hear "Wee-ooo". I can't imagine anything else, truthfully. ._____.'

But I mean, I suppose some of these things look a little different on paper screen(?) than out loud. Like, in English a baby would cry "waaaah" and even though it's "ouiiiin" in French, it basically sounds the same out loud. :/

This all reminds me that I've been meaning to make a thread about "ow!" in different languages.

[blumenfeuer]

I think it depends on the type of siren. The ones in my college's town are "nee-NAW nee-NAW" but the ones at home are "we-ooooooo we-ooooo."

[misplaced_keys]

Slovenian:
Rooster: kikiriki
Hen: Kokodak
Chick: Pipipipi
Dog: Hov
Cat: Mijav
Cow: Mu
Sheep: Beeee
Goat: Mekeke/Meeeeeee
Goose: Ga ga
Horse: Ihaha
Donkey: I-a
Pig: I don't know how to write down, it's sort of like snoring, but backwards, like Hrgh-hrgh, we use Oink, too.
Bird: Čiv čiv (Sparrow: živ žav, Quail: ped-pedi, Crow: kra-kra)

...I felt to silly typing that.

[wekhter]

it's sort of like snoring, but backwards

I'm fascinated by the thought of trying to imitate such a noise.

[manarai]

Oh, pigs!
It seems that in Polish pigs make two kinds of sounds - one just like this backwards snoring, which is 'chrum-chrum' [khrum-khrum] and the other one is 'kwik' [kveek]. The latter is what Polish pigs do instead of 'oink'... :)

[misplaced_keys]

Ah, Kvik! Of course! I think most kids here would associate the sound with a bird, but that's exactly the sound pigs make when they're excited!
Also, I just looked around and apparently our pigs say 'runk' when they're eating and also 'krul', but I've never heard of these before. What IS it about pigs?

Italian

[mad_troll]

Roosters: Chicchirichì
Kittens: Miao
Dogs: Bau-bau
Ducks: qua-qua
Frogs: crac-crac
Birds: cip-cip
Cows: Muuh
Donkeys: I-oo
Goats & sheep: Bee