Monday 14 September 2015

How French Animals Speak


We all know that the world is full of different language but did you know that animals also "speak" differently around the world, with France being no exception?  We got Saari when we moved to France but we brought Poppy with us and we always joked that the two dogs would not understand each other as the "spoke" different languages!  Of course dogs from the world over can happily communicate with their universal body language and bottom sniffing but it is us humans who describe their sounds differently.  So when Saari barks, because she is French, she says ouah (pronounced waf) as that is what French dogs say, rather than Poppy who used to sat woof (in a very English way!).  If you listen to Saari she definitely does say WAF complete, I am sure with a Gallic shrug!!

So what do other French animals "say"?  Here's a list I have come up with ..

Pets


Cats: miaou and when they purr it's ron-ron (remember to roll your r when you say this)
Dogs: ouah (waf)

Horses: hiiiii

Farm Animals


Cockerels: cocorico
Sheep: bêêê

Donkeys: hee-han 

Pigs: groin-groin
Hens: cot-cot 

Ducks: coin-coin
Turkeys: glou-glou 

Cows: meuh
 

Other Animals and Birds


Birds: cui-cui  
Frogs: coââ-coââ
Cuckoos: coucou 
Crows: croa-croa

Some, I do think, describe the animal sound better in French than the English equivalent but I have to say I have never heard Colin, our cockerel, say cocorico!!   Do you know any more French animal sounds?  What for example does a lion say ... or a hippopotamus for that matter.  Come to think of it what does a hippo say in any language?! 


This post will be linked to Animal Tales tomorrow, the weekly blog linky for all sorts of animal related posts.  The next one opens on Tuesday 15th September and I'd love to see you link up with any posts (old or new) that you have about our animal friends.


21 comments :

  1. A lovely lesson in French to start my day.

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  2. I thought about writing exactly this to link up one day here, but you've beaten me to it! As it's in my list of blog post ideas I might still do it one day but I'll have to find a different angle!

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    1. Quite often you write things I had thought about too but I don't think there is a problem writing similar blogs as we have a lot of different followers who will not have read the other blog. I've got a post on animals in French idioms brewing as well but am struggling with images.

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    2. I agree, of course we can write about the same things and have done lots, but mine was specifically for this linky so I'll have to leave it a while otherwise it is a bit boring, there's only so much you can say about meuh vs moo and ouah vs woof!

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    3. Oops - sorry! We need more sangliers to come a visiting ... or maybe not!

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  3. The Animal sounds are funny in different languages but I must admit that I was quite surprised when I found out that English cockerels say Cockadoodledoo - I grew up with them saying Cukalukalu!

    I do think you are right that animals pronounce their voices differently - our Nigerian dog certainly had a different bark (on the two times in his life we heard him bark) to our Venezuelan, the English dogs all sound the same but the Kazakh dog is different again. They learn different human languages too - our Nigerian and Venezuelan dogs could 'speak' English, Dutch and Spanish.

    The coin and cot-cot are spot on!

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    1. It seems that cockerels say odd things the world over. Mind you I think my hens say buk buk and my ducks say something that I can't work out how to spell! Maybe waaack? They are Muscovy ducks, though, that sound different to other ducks.

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  4. I should take a print out of this next time I visit France...in case I want to have a conversation with the local animals! Actually it's rather fascinating how the onomatopoeic sounds can vary from country to country or be incredibly similar.

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    1. LOL - I should print one off and put it in the gite!

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  5. I've always found this amusing as the animals sound the same. In German the animals have different sounds too (and probably just about every other language).

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  6. Russian ducks Russian ducks крякать (kryakat) so say кря-кря (krya-krya) could it be that.....

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    1. I think it's a more soft sound for this breed - I'll have to head out and have a listen!

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  7. I enjoyed reading that post. My French language skills were never great at school, and I fear I may well struggle again, just talking to the animals. Still, at least they can't tell me how bad I am conversing with them :-)

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    1. If you come to France then, Adam, you need to come here - our animals are bilingual ;)

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  8. I never thought of that! At least all dogs seem to sound or bark the same? Or am I wrong? ;) #animaltales

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    1. We are sure Saari (who was born in France) barks differently to Poppy who was born in England. I shall make it my business to listen to other French dogs now LOL

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  9. we still speak to Bob in Afrikaans, although he does respond to English more often

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    1. It generally doesn't tkae dogs long to learn another language does it?

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    2. we only use one afrikaans phrase now and when it's urgent which is 'kom' instead of 'come' as he responds to the urgency in the accent

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