Editor’s Corner: What does the fox say?

Posted by: Jack Henry | December 31, 2013

Editor’s Corner: What does the fox say?

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: 12 drummers drumming. In honor of those noisy little drummers I’m including some sound-related information on this last day of the Editor’s Corner Christmas articles. For a special treat, I bring you pronunciations from the world of farm animal sounds! It’s interesting to me how different languages interpret animal sounds—the animals are making the same noises worldwide, but with different alphabets and different languages, we interpret them differently.

I also just realized that it’s interesting that animal sounds are one of the first things we teach kids. Why is that, when so much of the population lives in the city? Is it that the sounds are easy to make? Is it easier for a baby to say woof-woof or ruff-ruff or grrrrr? Do Hungarian babies have a harder time learning the sound for horse than Korean babies?

I don’t have the answers today—just questions and farm animal noises from Woman’s Day magazine:

Cat

Dutch = Miauw

German = Miau

Hebrew = Miyau

Japanese = Nyaa

Turkish = Miyav

Horse

Hungarian = Nyihaha Nyihaha

Japanese = Hi-Hiin

Korean = Hee-Hing

Russian = I-Go-Go

Swedish = Iihahaha

Cow

Dutch = Boe/Moe

Finnish = Ammuu

French = Meuh

Japanese = Mau Mau

Urdu = Baeh

Owl

Dutch = Oe Hoe

Finnish = Huhuu

French = Hou Hou

Russian = Uh Uh Uh

Turkish = Uuu Uuu

Dog

Arabic = Haw Haw

French = Ouah Ouah

Spanish = Gua Gua

Swedish = Vov Vov

Russian = Gav Gav

Rooster

Chinese = Go-Geh-Goh-Goh

Danish = Kykyliky

Korean = Coo-Koo-Ri-Koo

Spanish = Quiquiriqui or Kikiriki

Turkish = U Uru Uuu

Donkey

Dutch = I-A

French = Hihan

Hebrew = Yi-Ah

Icelandic = E-Haw Haw

Turkish = A-Iiii A-Iiii

Sheep

Dutch = Bè Bè

Greek = Mae-ee

Japanese = Meh Meh

Spanish = Beee Beee

Swedish = Bä Bä

Duck

Danish = Rap-Rap

French = Coin Coin

Greek = Pa-Pa-Pa

Russian = Krya Krya

Spanish = Cua Cua

Snake

German = Zichen

Hungarian = Sz-Sz

Italian = Hshs

Norwegian = Hvese

Turkish = Tiss

Goose

Finnish = Tööt

Hungarian = Gá-Gá

Japanese = Ga-a Ga-a

Russian = Ga-Ga-Ga

Turkish = Gak Gak

Turkey

Belgium = Irka Kloek Kloek

French = Glou Glou

Greek = Glou Glou

Spanish = Clou Clou

Turkish = Glu Glu

P.S. The cost of the 12 days of Christmas gifts in today’s prices? $114,000!

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Editor's Corner