How dogs bark in Central Europe, the Balkans, and Russia
Farther east in Europe, let’s pay a visit to the Czech Republic and Poland, where dogs say haf haf and hau hau, respectively. Hungarian dogs change Poland’s version up a little bit with vau vau.
Over on the southeast end of Europe, on the Balkan peninsula, dogs saying ghav ghav is Greek to me! People in North Macedonia prefer the similar-but-shorter av av. Dogs in Albania say ham ham (pronounced closer to “hom hom,” not like Easter dinner!). In Bulgaria, they say bow bow, interestingly not quite the familiar English “bow wow.” And finally, if you’re Russian, your pooch will say gav gav or tyaf tyaf. Already quite the variety! This makes sense because there are lots of different dog breeds that hail from all around the world. Find out what the world’s most (and least) expensive dogs are.
There are a few similar features in some of the frog sounds below, such as “c,” “k” and “r” sounds. However, for the most part, it appears as though frogs croak quite differently from country to country!
It’s tempting to assume that animal noises in different languages are all the same, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Every language has its own words created to imitate sounds, known as onomatopoeias, for animals.
You can see that all of the mouse sounds below convey that teeny-tiny sound the little rodents make, yet they’re all quite different.
If you said “woof,” you’re right—and also wrong. Sure, that’s the sound a dog makes in an English-speaking country, but what about a French or German animal?
While some of the duck sounds below are different, you’ll notice some similarities too: Just look at German and Italian, for instance. Even the Spanish cua-cua sounds pretty close to quack-quack.
How dogs bark in Western Europe
First stop: French and Spanish. En français, you have a couple of different options for how to describe dog-speak. You can say ouaf ouaf, ouah ouah, or wouf wouf. As you can see, we’re still in “woof”-ish territory here. Spanish, though, is another story; in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries, dogs say guau guau! (Take a listen here; the “g” is muted so it sounds a bit like “wow wow.”) Also in Spain (northeastern Spain, to be exact), as well as Andorra, you’ll find speakers of the Catalan language, where dogs say bup bup.
Moving east, you’ll find dogs saying waf waf and woef woef in the Netherlands; wau wau, waff waff, and wuff wuff in Germany; and vuf vuf in Denmark. All the way down in geography’s most famous boot, Italy, dog-speak is represented as bau bau. For some more language trivia, do you know about these unique words in English that don’t have foreign equivalents?
70 People Imitate What Cats and Dogs Sound Like in 70 Countries | Condé Nast Traveler
If you said “woof,” you’re right—and also wrong. Sure, that’s the sound a dog makes in an English-speaking country, but what about a French or German animal?
It’s tempting to assume that animal noises in different languages are all the same, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Every language has its own words created to imitate sounds, known as onomatopoeias, for animals.
While some animal sounds around the world are remarkably similar, many are wildly different. Below, we explore ten animals’ sounds in different languages. These onomatopoeias are sure to surprise you!
Starting off our list are cats. As you’ll see below, although the spelling differs, the sounds they make in most languages are surprisingly similar. In fact, the only language below that has a completely different cat sound is Korean.
Here’s yet another animal with a sound distinct enough that many languages use the same—or very similar—sounds. A common theme here is the use of either “m” or “b” followed by an “oo” sound.
Unlike cats, dogs around the world make very different sounds. Maybe it depends on the breeds or sizes of the dogs that are most common in each country. A tiny lap dog would make a different sound than a herding dog, for example.
While some of the duck sounds below are different, you’ll notice some similarities too: Just look at German and Italian, for instance. Even the Spanish cua-cua sounds pretty close to quack-quack.
There are a few similar features in some of the frog sounds below, such as “c,” “k” and “r” sounds. However, for the most part, it appears as though frogs croak quite differently from country to country!
We can probably all agree that most horses make pretty much the same sound despite their breed. However, there seems to be a lot of disagreement about what that sound is. Just look at all the interpretations below!
You can see that all of the mouse sounds below convey that teeny-tiny sound the little rodents make, yet they’re all quite different.
Judging from the list below, it looks like pigs would have to overcome major language barriers if they visited different countries—none of these sounds have much in common!
Apparently, roosters have a pretty unmistakable sound; it’s very similar in a lot of languages. Sometimes spelled with a “c,” sometimes with a “k” and even with an occasional “q,” all the sounds below are multisyllabic and have a distinct rooster feel.
There are some differences between each of the sheep sounds we’ve listed, but they have a common thread: They all start with either an “m” or a “b,” and contain “a” or “e” vowel sounds. Our favorite is the Japanese sheep—it sounds so unimpressed!