How To Make Animal Noises In Japanese

You’d think that the noise an animal makes was universal. They’re fortunate that way, our four legged, or feathered, or scaled friends - no language barriers. They communicate via telepathy, if television is to be believed, or, if that doesn’t work, then they alway have some universal language to fall back on, which changes according to where the show is being broadcast. Sadly, reality is nowhere near as co-operative as the cartoon world.

In Japan, dogs don’t say, “bow wow”, although I am cool with this, as I don’t think they say “bow wow” in any language. I’ll accept a “woof,” but this simply doesn’t wash in Japan.

Dogs say - ワン　ワン　(wan wan)

Next time you hear a dog bark, listen closely. Did you hear an ‘n’? Me neither. Although I was probably listening to a different dog.

Cats, everyone knows, say “miaow”. This sits well with the entire universe, because when you say it, it sounds like a cat, mid-preen, pausing to announce to everyone her regal presence. (Cats are always female. Everyone knows that.) This is accepted in Japan, but they’re terribly fond of the letter N here, as it is the first letter of the name of the country. As a result -

cats say : ニャ－ (niyaa)

Here’s a list of some others I can remember:

Cows say : モ－　(mo) (not “moo”, this sounds like the thing you do to your lawn.)
Horses say : ヒヒ－ン　(hi hi) (very funny, the horses.)
Ducks say : ガァ　(gaa) (like some drunk homeless person who has dropped his paper bag enshrined quarter bottle of whiskey.)
Pigs say : ブブ　(bubu) (I have no idea why. Perhaps they had a really good time at a Hallowe’en party once, and can’t quite shake the memories.)
Cockerels say : コケコッコ－(kokekokkou)　(This one makes sense.)
Frogs say : ゲロゲロ (gero gero) (Almost makes sense. I still prefer ‘ribbit’.)
Elephants say : パオ－　(pao) (Sounds daft until you do it out loud. Go on. I dare you. No-one’s looking.)
Mice say : チュ－チュ－　(chuu chuu) (Which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Especially seeing as the word チュ is also the word for kiss; it seems mice are anybody’s for a bit of cheese.)

Interesting article on onomatopoiea over at yourDictionary.com

Tuesday, May 2nd, 2006 How to... Trackback URL for this entry