some giraffes make flute-like sounds
ever since i met my first pig, i could not understand how anyone could possibly think he was saying “oink”. when i eventually attended french immersion and learnt that les cochons disent “groin groin” i thought either all pigs must be french, or english-speakers must not be able to hear at all. i was under the impression that all animals spoke the language native to their land, but humans could not hear the words for lack of something in our brains. i assumed animals could understand everything we said, we just couldn’t understand them. unless of course we had a special bond with them, like in the case of my dog.
i used to tell my friends that my dog could speak both english and spanish, and that i was trying to teach her french. when i played with cats, i would call to them in spanish with a “misu misu” rather than a “here kitty kitty”. they all seemed to listen to my grandma when she did so..i figured most of them probably spoke spanish. at that age, it never occurred to me that humans could not all make the same sounds.
nowadays, this interests me greatly. i’ve been looking for books on onomatopoeic words of various languages but i’ve had no luck. i am not only looking for animal onomatopoeia in different languages but rather all kinds of onomatopoeia – musical, mechanical, and the noises of everyday life, in different languages. how do you say “ding-dong”, “boing”, “fizz” any other way? if you happen to drop in on this post and know of any interesting ones, please send the titles over. otherwise, i guess i will have to start writing one myself!
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happy 2008 !
three good things:
+ my cold is slowly disappearing!
+ this used to remind me of the end of summer but now it just reminds me of happy times in 07.
+ hah. this one’s for you..you know who you are.
