Of Barking Dogs
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Being in an inter-ethnic relationship exposes you to incidents of culture shock (or amusement) every once in a while. Most of these cultural differences, you get used to after a while. And then there are some that continues to bewilder you even after years. This is the tale of such a difference.
One of the first things that struck me as very different between my culture (Indian) and my wife’s (Taiwanese) cultures was the sound of a barking dog. My wife has been insisting all these years that dogs bark as wang-wang (pronounced more like wong-wong) in Chinese or Taiwanese. Those of you who were taught in English would surely empathize with me for dismissing this as humbug.
Last year, when I spent some time in China, I would often start my conversations with the locals (after the obligatory ni hao) by asking them to imitate dogs barking. The few who didn’t chase me down a hutong, would respond with wang-wang except for people from Inner Mongolia (a province) or Mongolia. These folks say how-how. (Imagine, if you will, Ghenghis Khan marching down central Asia marauding and plundering cities while his dogs barked how-how. I am amazed that he made it as far as he did.)
Recently I have been delving into the world of linguistics and I have learned that these onomatopoetic words are indeed very different in various languages. Although these words imitate natural sounds, the way they are pronounced depends a lot on the structure of the language and cultural background. Some of these sounds in different languages may seem unreal for non-native speakers.
So, how do dogs bark in different languages? In English, it’s either woof-woof (U.K.) or bow-wow (U.S.A.); in French, it’s woah-woah (remember Snowy in the Tintin comics?); in Italian, it’s bau-bau; in Greek, it’s gav-gav; in Japanese, it’s wan-wan; in German, it’s wau-wau; in Finnish, it’s hau-hau and in Turkish, it’s hev-hev. If you know of others, please add a comment in this space.
Despite my better understanding of onomatopoeia these days, I still can’t help chuckling every time my wife says wang-wang. Woof-woof, I bark back.
I think in Tamil it is “Wal-Wal” or ‘Val-Val” since W and V are interchangeable. Of course if you were a Tamilian you would say “Waluh -Waluh” given the preference Tamilians have to smooth out the words ending with consonants like ‘l’ and ‘r’ with a ‘uh’ at the end.
You’re missing the possibility that Chinese dogs may actually be saying “wong, wong”. Heck, they’re Chinese dogs. Is there a rule that says dogs as a species transcend national boundaries? For all we know, they may be even more jingoistic than their human counterparts.
Also, the fear of being cooked and eaten has a strong correlation to vocabulary, as any linguist will tell you.
In Dutch it’s “woef-woef”. You mention English but how do you say it in your native tongue? Are there other words which have so much difference between languages? Maybe the sound of ringing bells?
In Malayalam (my native tongue), “Wal” or “val” means tail or in an extended meaning - sycophant.
Interesting point. I never thought of it that way. If sounds could kill, my woof-woof barking dog will beat the crap out of any wang-wang barking Chinese dog. I am sorry to say that wang-wang definitely sounds wimpy.
You know, I am ashamed to admit that I don’t know. I remember it as always being bow-wow or woof-woof (maybe even an arf-arf) but these are probably due to my Jesuit education.
Mallu dogs say bow-bow, a subtle difference from the bow-wow of their Anglicized brethren.
I think you mean “Waal” or “Vaal” - it is the same word and the same meaning in Tamil. I should know - as a kid I was known as my elder brother’s tail for following him around and copying him on everything.
I guess the barking sound in Tamil is closer to “Wul-Wul” or “Vul-Vul”
/R
Very interesting. So who’s got the sound right? My vote is for the French.
Probably the Mallu dog you heard was roaming near English schools.
What about Korean dog’s “mung mung” and the Indonesian dog’s “meng-gong-gong” ?
Ah yes, you are correct.
The French dogs sound like they are whining — the sound reminds me of Keanu in The Matrix trilogy (not a pleasant reminder). And I never really warmed to Snowy the way I did to Dogmatix.
Sounds like a nice coconut flavored soup I will get at a Southeast Asian restaurant.
I think in Malayalam, the ringing bell is Ning-ning (the N is pronounced with the tip of the tongue curled against the palate. Since this is a linguistic thread, technically, the N sound used is probably a sub-apical retroflex consonant, though the precise sound isn’t listed in the wikipedia link). How about the cat’s meow? In Malayalam, it is meow too - please don’t tell me Chinese cats say anything else.
Further research reveals a Wikipedia entry on dogs barking. The Indonesian sound is listed as guk-guk and not meng-gong-gong as was pointed out earlier.
Wow. I give up.
My wife assures me that the Chinese sound for meow is indeed similar (it actually sounds nasal anyway). But it differs dramatically in other languages. See here. This article also states that “Cats are capable of about 100 different vocalisations, compared to about 10 for dogs.” — interesting.
Warning - really anal academic question ahead. Is it really interchangeable? I think in Indian languages, we don’t have a ‘W’ or a ‘V’, but a sound in between. The reason I dug into this was because of a constant confusion among my American friends if my name was pronounced Vinod or Winod. I finally concluded it was neither.
The V is a voiced labiodental fricative.
The W is a labial-velar approximant.
Our ‘w’ is a labiodental approximant. Supposedly that is how the Dutch say w. Perhaps reneejo can verify that the Dutch w is indeed neither the English v or w.
Depends where you look.
Also strange are these sounds. Is this the same tiger we all grew up knowing ?
Hmm…that probably explains why I always (used to) confuse wine and vine. I will utter “labiodental approximant” the next time someone makes fun of this. That should shut them up.
I like the Korean version of the tiger growl: e-hung. Enough said.
Could be. I have never thought of it that way nor do I know anything about linguistics. People do think we speak funny English even though I know for a fact that English descended from Frisian, a language spoken in a province in my country.
LOL
Very funny discussion. I never knew talking about dog sounds could be so interesting.
I don’t know about venezuelan dogs but there is a joke about a guy that claimed his dog was the fiercest of them all because when he called his dog’s name the dog would respond: “you come here motherfucker”…
… in plain english I believe… maybe that would sound stronger in german!!!…
interesting…
“onomatopoetic”? Nice pun or new word… or maybe you meant onomatopoeic…
bau bau!
L.
Both “onomatopoetic” and “onomatopoeic” are correct. See:
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/onomatopoeic
I’m in Tamilnadu right now, and the dogs here seem to say bow-wow to my untutored ears. However, the people here insist they’re actually saying lol-lol, not wal-wal as riyer said earlier. Perhaps local canine dialects vary. I’m talking about Chennai city dogs, a sad, mangy lot. There’s even a ditty that goes:
Which means:
LOL. Perhaps these mutts are really having a good laugh on us.
Maybe they are just happy dogs?
There was this Seinfeld standup comment that where Jerry goes if aliens were watching us through a big telescope from Mars and this is what they see: People fussing over dogs, dogs leading people on a leash while out on a walk and people bending over to pick up doggy poop, these aliens would be convinced that the dogs were the dominant species! These humans were so subservient to the canines
Now maybe that’s why the doggies are laughing it up double. LOL-LOL.
Dude, my family is from Tanjore - where even the dogs speak perfect Tamil. It is argued in some quarters that in Chennai they don’t even speak Tamil, but make some noises remotely similar to Tamil.
I must confess that having never lived in Tamil Nadu, I can’t be the best judge of Tamil dialects. When growing up - (in Bombay), if we were caught shouting indoors, my dad would say “Naaie maadHri wal-uh wal-uh inTu katHaadHe da” (Loosely translated it says, “Just like a dog, Don’t go wal-uh wal-uh”.
That is when I learnt that dogs in Tamil Nadu go “wal-uh wal-uh”
I went to a Korean restaurant the other day and we got into a lively discussion with the waitresses there about animal sounds. They were very amused. And yes Korean dogs do go mung mung.
In the kitchen, I see these Korean waitresses tapping their heads (Asterix-style) and saying “These Indians are crazy!”
[...] What’s with these web sites which merely replicate Wikipedia articles anyway? All searches for the topic seem to lead to copies of the same Wikipedia entry. Getting back to “air quotes”, (the written equivalents you just witnessed are referred to as “scare” quotes; whatever) according to Wiki “it must be true” pedia, the German and French versions of air quotes resemble their own written version of quotes. Ok - I can understand when Chinese dogs bark differently from European dogs, and that the French can’t use the good Queen’s English. But for heaven’s sake, the world is flat, haven’t you heard - get with the program and use the good Queen’s air quotes. I’m sure people use these gestures when they speak over the phone too. And then there’s people like me. Those who hate air quotes but at the same time can’t stop using them. I can never get myself to lift my hands up to my shoulders. They’re always somewhere around my groin area, fingers madly fluttering away. Just like South Indian men and their intolerable moustaches. Too macho to shave it all off and too girlie-man to grow a full manly beard. [...]
Maybe reneejo can enlighten us on these interesting little Dutch laws and the general attitude about them: Turns out if you have a pet dog, you’re required to pay an annual canine tax called the hondenbelasting which is conveniently ignored by many. This particular family has a barking doorbell that has gotten them into a barking contest with the authorities who mistakenly took thought that they owned a dog but were not paying the hondenbelasting. Woef, woef to that!
Sorry but I don’t know anything about this stupid law.
Thanks for the interesting reading. I live near 20 barking dogs, and they all make different noises. I can’t possibly spell them all the same.
This one in particular:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTA9EXGrDbs
how would you spell it? It’s pretty wierd.