Animal Sounds

After having lived in several countries and learned several different languages, one of the things that really strikes me as funny is the way different languages perceive the sounds that animals make. Teaching students from several different countries it is always fun to ask them what sounds a certain animal makes and listen to the different responses. Not the best use of a computer class but fun none the less. Here are some funny examples:

Rooster:
English: cock-a-doodle-doo
Chinese (Mandarin): gou gou
Indonesian: kikeriku
Korean: kko-kki-yo
Thai: ake-e-ake-ake

Cat:
English: meow
Indonesian: ngeong
Japanese: nyaa
Chinese (Mandarin): miao miao
Korean: (n)ya-ong

Toke Gecko:
Indonesian: toke
Japanese: tii-tii
Thai: took-gae took-gae

Bee:
English: bzzzz
Korean: boong-boong (/wing-wing)
Norwegian: sum-sum
Japanese: bunbun

For lots more fun with world animal sounds, check out Sounds of the World's Animals