Animal Sounds in Different Languages

Some of the first sounds we learn to imitate as babies are the sounds animals supposedly make. I say supposedly, since each language has its own idea about what those sounds are. While most people hear the mewing of a cat in a similar way (some variant of mee-ow), there is a huge range of opinion about how best to represent the grunting of a pig (see below).

I’ve always thought the silliest animal sound in English is the traditional “cock-a-doodle-doo” attributed to the rooster. To my ear, the Hungarian “kukuriku” or the Portuguese “cucurucu,” come much closer to the sound of the original since roosters don’t really have the ability to pronounce distinct words as humans do.

Here then are some of the more interesting variations on common animal sounds (transliterated into the Latin alphabet as necessary).

Pig (grunting)

• Danish: øf-øf
• Dutch: knor knor
• French: groin groin
• German: grunz
• Hungarian: röf-röf
• Japanese: boo boo
• Russian: hrgu-hrgu
• Swedish: nöff-nöff

Cat (purring)

• Danish: pierr
• Dutch: prrr
• Finnish: hrr
• French: ronron
• German: srr
• Hungarian: doromb
• Japanese: goro goro
• Russian: mrr
• Spanish: rrr

Small Dog (barking)

• Danish: vov-vov
• Dutch: waf waf
• Finnish: hau hau
• French: ouah ouah
• German: wau wau
• Hebrew: how-how
• Hungarian: vau vau
• Italian: arf arf/bau bau
• Japanese: kian kian
• Russian: hav-hav/gav-gav
• Spanish: guau/gua
• Swedish: bjäbb-bjäbb
• Turkish: hev hev

Rooster (crowing)

• Danish: kykyliky
• Dutch: kukeleku
• Finnish: kukko kiekuu
• French: cocorico
• German: kikeriki
• Greek: kikiriku/kikiriki
• Hebrew: coo-koo-ri-koo
• Hungarian: kukuriku
• Italian: chicchirichi
• Japanese: ko-ke-kok-ko-o
• Portuguese: cucurucu
• Russian: kukareku
• Swedish: kuckeliku
• Turkish: kuk-kurri-kuuu
• Urdu: kuklooku

Source: Dr. Derek Abbott’s Homepage