Sounds made by animals

[Mordant]

You would have thought that animals sound the same the world over, as they don't speak any languages that we know of.

Imagine my surprise when I was confronted with a group of Scandinavians who didn't know that

Pigs go Oink Oink

Ducks go Quack Quack

Cows go Moo

And hens go Cluck Cluck.

You will understand if I don't try and spell what they said they did.

What do your animals say?

[Niall]

Being a Fellow Brit. My animals say the same!

Well, in reality, its quite obvious that none of those animals actaully make those noises.
But if I was asked what noises they made, rather than try and attempt the actaul noise, I would reply "Cluck" or "Moo".
Perhaps overseas they prefer to make more realistic noises!

[Humble]

Hi,
Onomatopoeias are different in every language.
In Russian
the cow says [mu:]
the cock - [kukare`ku:]
the hen -[koko`ko]
the cat -[miau]
the duck - [kria-`kria]
the dog - [gav-`gav]
the horse - [igo`go:]
the pig -[hriu-`hriu]
the sparrot [chi`rik-chi`rik]
the crow - [karr]
a snoring man -[hrrrr]
a sneeze -[apch `hi!]
trembling with cold - [brrr]
Cheers

[Casiopea]

Try this site, Sounds of the World's Animals. It's fun!

[BobK]

...
the cock - [kukare`ku:]
the hen -[koko`ko]

Interesting. In Portugal they mix these two together:
a cock goes [kɔkɔrɔ'kɔ] and a hen goes [kakara'ka].

...
trembling with cold - [brrr]
Cheers

At least English agrees about this: I suppose with human noises there's more likely to be agreement between languages.

b

[Mordant]

trembling with cold - [brrr]

I wonder if Inuits say Brrr.

[Teia]

Hi

Romanians say "brr" when it`s too cold, as well.

dog - hau [as in "how"]
cat - miau
sparrow - cirip
cock - cucurigu
cow -muu [as in "moo"]
sheep -bee
frog -oac
pig- guit[ it reads "guitz"]
duck- mac


The words are read as they are written.

[Tdol]

suppose with human noises there's more likely to be agreement between languages.

I dunno- we say 'ow/ouch', many Europeans say 'ai' and Japanese would be more likely to say 'ita/itaii', so the sound must come from conditioning, not nature.

[BobK]

Well, I said 'more likely to' - so I was covering my bases - if I'd thought, I'd have realized there are lots of counter-examples. But I still think that there will be more similarities in onomatopoeia re human noises than re animal noises - although as you point out there are lots of differences.

Touché, but not a mortal blow.

b

[Tdol]

Not even a palpable hit intended.