Monday, June 02, 2008

Barking in Foreign Languages



When humans describe barking, the sounds they ascribe to dogs are all a bit different, depending on the language spoken.
  • French: Wouaff Wouaff!
  • English: Woof Woof! Bow Wow! Ruff Ruff! Arf Arf! (large dogs); Yap Yap (small dogs)
  • German: Wau Wau!
  • Estonian: Auh Auh!
  • Finnish: Hau Hau!
  • Arabic: Hau hau!
  • Italian: Bau Bau!
  • Tagalog: Ow Ow!
  • Hindi - Bho Bho!
  • Japanese: Wan Wan!
  • Mandarin: Wang Wang!
  • Greek: Gav Gav!
  • Russian: Gav Gav!
  • Spanish: Gau Gau!
  • Indonesian: Guk Guk!
  • Swedish: Vov Vov!
  • Thai - Hoang Hoang!
  • Korean: Mong Mong!
  • Lebanese: Haw Haw!
  • Hebrew: Hav Hav!

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6 comments:

Lisa B. said...

In my various travels in Latin America I've heard them use "Wau Wau" instead of "Gau Gau."

Isaac said...

When I lived in Hawaii and would give Japanese tourists a tour around a large private ranch I would ask then what sound a cow makes when we passed the cows. Their answer was invariably "Mow" (as in 'mow the lawn'). I told them that since these cows were in the U.S. they spoke English and said "Moo". You'd be amazed at how many would say, "Wow, it's true! I can hear them and they're saying Moo!"

Pai said...

It's true how they say English is a technical language... we have 5 different ways of saying 'bark'!

I'm always fascinated by all the various words we have for describing the same thing, only a bit different.

Anonymous said...

Polish: Hau hau!
Another version in Russian: Tyaf tyaf!

Anonymous said...

In Chinese it's " wang wang"

Luisa said...

Lisa wrote: In my various travels in Latin America I've heard them use "Wau Wau" instead of "Gau Gau."


"Gau Gau" is pronounced "Wau Wau."

A Spanish-speaker I met one time with a dog named Güera ["white girl"] spelled it "Weda" so that non-Spanish-speakers would pronounce it better. Yes, the dog was white!