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I have always been interested in the ways that animal sounds are "translated" in foreign languages. Presumably, the sounds are the same to our ears.

In English:

  • Dog: woof
  • Cat: meow
  • Cow: moo
  • Duck: quack
  • Frog: ribbit

How are these translated by German ears?

Elements In Space
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    Reminds me of a great French lesson: "What does quoique mean?" - "That's the sound frogs make in France." Might only work with a German audience, though ;) – OregonGhost Jun 23 '11 at 08:28
  • Ich meine die Prämisse ist falsch. Viele Tiere haben eine große Varianz an Lauten, die sie ausstoßen, so dass die Laute, die einer Verschriftlichung zu Grunde liegen, viel eher voneinander abweichen, als dass sie zufällig identisch sind. – user unknown Jan 02 '24 at 22:53
  • Eine Kuh macht Muh. Viele Kühe machen Mühe. – gnasher729 Jan 10 '24 at 19:34

3 Answers3

24

These are words which are commonly used in German:

  • dog: wau wau (verb: bellen)
  • cat: miau (verb: miauen)
  • cow: muh (verb: muhen)
  • duck: quak (verb: quaken)
  • frog: quak (verb: quaken)

Other animals:

  • rooster: kikeriki (verb: krähen)
  • donkey: i-ah
  • sheep: mäh or bäh (verb: blöken)
  • bird: piep piep (verb: zwitschern)
  • horse: - (verb: wiehern)
  • owl: hu hu
Björn Friedrich
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splattne
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    @Gigili: Correct, though written summ summ in German. @splattne: Maybe the variants wuff for dogs and maunz for cats? At least I've heard them as much as the other ones. – OregonGhost Jun 23 '11 at 08:29
  • @OregonGhost: Just saw that in Takkat's answer! –  Jun 23 '11 at 08:31
7

Animal sounds are made up to sound similar when spoken (Onomatopoeia), using doubling of the sound in some times. Your examples will translate as follows:

  • Dog: woof = Wauwau
  • Cat: meow = Miau
  • Cow: moo = Muh
  • Duck: quack = Qua[c]k
  • Frog: ribbit = Qua[c]k

Here are some more examples:

  • Bird: = Piep[piep]
  • Bee: = Summ[summ]
  • Donkey: = Ia[ia]
  • Goat: = Meh
  • Sheep: = Mäh
Takkat
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4

English Wikipedia has some nice links to this

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