Monday, September 5, 2011

Differences in Animal Sounds

While teaching farm animals to my students, I noticed that my "meows" and my "woofs" were not necessarily understood as "cat" and "dog". This is a fundamental difference between North Americans and the Japanese. Animals just sound a little different here in Asia. So, in a measure help my fellow North Americans understand Japanese farm animals just a little better, I've put together a short guide on Japanese animal sounds.

  • Animal - Japanese sound (North American sound)
  • Dog - wan wan (woof woof)
  • Cat - nyaa nyaa (meow)
  • Frog - kero kero (ribbit)
  • Cow - moo moo (moo)
  • Sheep - mee mee (baa baa)
  • Pig - buu buu (oink oink)
  • Rooster - kokekkoko (cock-a-doodle-doo)

    Interesting observations, wouldn't you say? What do the dogs in Africa or Brazil sound like? It's weird that dogs speak multiple languages. Are dogs secretly humans? All are valid and interesting questions. Finally, I leave you with this assignment, my friends. The next time that you're in the company of a fine farm animal, ask yourself: what does YOUR farm animal sound like? (this should be a TV advertisement tagline)

    currently listening to: The Bloodhound gang: The Bad Touch (this is the only song that would be appropriate for this post)

2 comments:

  1. I like this one! I think I will use this in the weeks to come to teach my kids about farm animals and the different sounds they make all over the world! Glad you guys are having a great time. Be safe!

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  2. Awesome! I wanna how it went and what their reactions were. haha it's like making a tour of the world but with animal sounds..

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