Animal sounds around the world

If you are going to get something disastrously wrong, get it wrong in front of a HUGE crowd. That's my motto.

A terrifying speaking disaster I suffered opened my eyes to a new danger in crossing cultural boundaries.

I was giving a speech at a school in mainland China. "Today, children, I am going to tell you the story of the Library Girl," I said. (This is a folk tale I have expanded into an epic.) Here's the beginning of it.

Once upon a time there was a farm girl who broke her leg. She couldn't climb the library stairs.

She began to cry. Then she had an idea. She got a chicken from the farm and sent it hopping up the steps. It went into the library and hopped onto the librarian's table.

"What do you want, little chicken?" the librarian asked.

"Book-book-book-book," the chicken clucked. And the librarian gave the chicken a book, which she took back to the little girl. Every day the farm girl sent the chicken up the library steps. And every day it brought back a book for her to read.

Then one day the chicken came down the stairs with a book that she had already read. "Take it back and tell the librarian I read this one last week," the girl said. But that was too hard a sentence for a chicken to learn.

The girl began to cry. Then she had an idea. She got a frog from the farm and sent it up the library stairs with the book. It hopped onto the librarian's table. "Why are you returning that book? Is there a problem with it?" the librarian asked.

"Read-it, read-it, read-it, read-it," said the frog.

And so on. You get the idea. Each animal makes its usual sound, but humans hear the sounds as words.

Well, I was only a little way into the story when I realized that the kids had no idea what I was talking about. I suddenly remembered that the sound that chickens make is not perceived in China as book-book-book. To my audience, chickens go gordok, gordok, gordok.

Worse still, in mainland China, frogs quack like ducks. I know that sounds weird, but it's true. Frog ponds such like Donald Duck episodes.

Animal sounds are a real minefield for travelling authors. In Bengali, a rooster will say: cooho'koohoo, while in Chinese, he'll go: gor-gor-gor-gor, and in Thai, he will say: ake-e-ake-ake. Weirdest of all, English speakers (this is not a joke) believe roosters wake up every morning and say "Cock a doodle doo." The most accurate are speakers of Portuguese, who claim that roosters say cocorococo.

So there I was, in mid-sentence, realizing that the story I was telling would make no sense to my audience. What to do? I had no idea. So I simply continued, leaping around and putting my all into my animal impressions.

The children roared with laughter.

The teacher told me afterwards: "The first time you came, you told them a story. That was okay. But this time you just talked like a crazy man, made no sense. I think they like this better."

There's a moral to this tale, but I have no idea what it is.

Comments

[Chris]

Hello, Nury Vittichi!!! I'm a Student in Shatin Junior school. The school that you went on 11/3/09. You are extremely funny. Also you are the person in standard and one of them is the 12 animal years. The tiger says:"You have three nipples" in the end. I laughed like a maniac when I heard that!!!!!!

[Nury]

Hi, Chris, thanks for writing. It was really great to meet you and the other students. I had a great time at your school. I hope to return one day!

[angela]

Yup, Nury Dear.

I also found this out the hard way when I read a story about birds to the kids at the library. As I made different bird impressions, the kids (mostly Singaporeans plus a sprinkling of Koreans and Japanese) didn't react as I expected then I realized it is because the story is about birds in the Philippines and ofcourse the noise they make are only understandable if you speak Tagalog. But children understand action better than words so when I started flapping my wings they understand :)

'nyway, since then I have started this notebook in which I compiled the different animal sounds in different countries (I the asked natives to say it to me) and here are some:

Chicken
Indonesia: Kukuruyuuu!
Philippines: Tiktilaooo!
America: Cock a doodle doo!
Germany: kikeriki! (yup, I asked a German)

Frog
Indonesia: tekotek! tekotek!
Philippines: Kokak! Kokak!
America: Ribbit! Ribbit!
Germany: Quaak Quaak!

Dog
Indonesia: Guk! Guk! guk!
Philippines: Aw! Aw! Aw!
America: Whoof! Whoof! Whoof!
Germany: Wau! Wau! Wau!

Cat
Indonesia: Meow..Meow..
Philippines: Miau Miau... or Ming Ming..
America: Meeooow..Meoow..
Germany: Miau..Miau..

Btw, I saw my Japanese neighbor walking her dog and she seems to be scolding the dog in Japanese so I conclude that dogs speak the owner's language.

[Nury]

Wow, Angela, that's great -- thanks so much, that's really helpful

[fardel]

Here in the Caribbean ,
frogs grow on trees,
they like to jump on people's head
and they sing Gribit gribit
In Mexico the rooster sings Kikiriki
and in France the rooster sings cocorico

By the way
do you know why the rooster is the "national " representation of the country?
Because it is the only animal singing when its feet are in deep s..t.

[Jenif]

Gribit sounds like western frog. But I don't know why german frogs speak Chinese, and go quack. its all very mysterious

[Mike Munson]

Reminds me of the book I read to my kids.

"Everywhere the Cow Says "Moo!" by Ellen Slusky Weinstein

[Ellen]

Do you realize that someone could make a fortune by exporting Chinese (or German) frogs to California (or Japan)?? All you have to do is to advertise "Amazing Frog-Ducks: Look like frogs but sound like ducks"!

Youre right about the roosters. I think fardel's information about the mexican rooster is the most accurate. kikiriki sounds like a rooster to me.

Now that you point it out, the American "cockadoodle do" sounds ridiculous!!

[angela]

I beg to differ! Kikiriki is chickenspeak only if you habla espanol :)

until age 10 I thought kukuruyuuuu! was the chickenspeak. From age 11 onwards I believed tiktilaooo was more chickenspeak coz I hear that every morning.

I think if you really go to different countries and listen to the local language and then listen to the chicken you will understand.

What about the Japanese frog that says kero kero kero?

[Mike]

I had a apartment next to Spanish speakers and they were talking to their dog and I remember thinking, dogs don't speak Spanish.

Yes, I know, it was an idiot moment but still funny.

[Balaji Perumal]

Dear Nury

This is possibily one of the most hillarious articles i have read. Am not saying that the content is funnier that the other articles you have written , but the reactions it has on the readers is insanely profound.
Every person who has read this article would have tried these sounds, almost involuntarily. Your articles do have a way to tickle the subconsciuos mind.

[Mike]

My favorite idiot moment is when I went thru a drive thru and got a hamburger. I pull up, and my brain says to me, "Don't throw that hamburger in the trash can" as my hands keep the wrapper in the car and toss my food away.

Now Mike's brain knows what he doing ain't to bright. Unfortunately Mike's brain wasn't driving the bus.

[Rooster]

As a cockeral, I feel I ought to have my say. In the mornings, I say "kukuruyuuuu", as Angela points out. This means, "time to get up".
When the farmer comes around, I say Kook, Kook, Kook, which is a term of abuse.
In the evenings, me and the chickens discuss philosophy.

[fardel]

What makes you think that animals (even peanut-brained roosters) would speak one language worldwide when humans do not, ?
Do you think that they are more stupid than us?
Comes to think about it, Mr Vittachi just helped us make THE discovery of the century:we cannot not decipher the whales language,because they use a different one each time they cross a border;
Considering the size of their brains , the might speak a dozen languages, going back 4000 years, at least.

[Nury]

I love mike's story about throwing away the burger and keeping the wrapper. It really made me laugh? Anyone else got any funny stories about doing something really dumb? It might make a good feature for Reader's Digest or something. Are you, like Mike, a normally intelligent person, who in a moment of madness has done something unbelievable stupid?

[Faith Simpson Ratnayake]

When I was studying Japanese language, we learned that elephants go 'naka naka zen zen' possibly describing their locomotion, but nicely philosophical.

[Ear Damage]

haha very funny story! i think the moral may be that kids prefer crazy?!