Animals Speak in Different Languages

Or rather this is how we humans interpret in our various languages the sounds that animals make.  Let us take a dog for example. In English a dog says "woof woof", in Japanese "wan wan", in Spanish "guau guau", in Polish "hau hau", in Portuguese "au au", Italian "bau bau", Chinese "wang wang".

What this little example shows us is that speaking is not what languages are exclusively about. They are also about hearing and hearing is a big part of understanding what is being said in a foreign language. Our minds register sounds that we hear in a way that is based on how our native language divides up sounds. A language may have sounds that seem identical to us, yet within it there are huge differences. A statement made in a foreign language may sound to an early learner as one uninterrupted stream of sounds, rather than individual words.

Animals of course make the same sounds all over the world. It is we, speakers of various languages, who use different ways of describing similar sounds.

So other than out of curiosity, why should foreign language learners be concerned about animal sounds? Sounds are perceived differently in different languages and cultures.  Hence it is better to be on the safe side, than to get yourself into an embarrassing situation, or worse accidentally insult someone over what we think might be an obvious animal sound.

Can being familiar with them help?  Of course.  A person we know was once in a French restaurant, in France. She happened to not be proficient in the language, and one evening she saw an item on the menu that according to her little dictionary meant "wolf."  The waiter was polite and spoke a little bit of English, so she asked him: "Is this dish really wolf"?  He said, "Yes, this is a delicious wolf."  She became very upset and broke into cold sweat imagining a cute wolf pup being served in a restaurant. So she continued to ask... " is this a wolf, like those that live in the woods and go aaawoooooooooo?" The waiter laughed. "No, this is a type of fish."  Her use of the animal sound made her question completely understandable.