It might seem obvious how to describe the sounds that animals make (e.g., a cow goes "moo"), but between English and Korean, there are some real large differences that show cultural aspects as well as how language can change how we hear things.
Today we're going animalistic and learning the sounds that animals make (at least in Korean)!
That's right, today's post is basically us going around the classic Fisher Price animal sounds toy you might have had as a kid (but in Korean) because, well, you don't get to learn them in more serious Korean textbooks 😂
Now THIS is language learning
The first sound is for a dog's bark. At least in the U.S., you might be tempted to think that it would be similar to "woof woof".
And that's where you're wrong.
It's 멍멍.
You might be wondering why it's so different and it's because of the type of dog that has been (and still is) very popular:
멍멍멍멍멍멍멍멍멍멍멍!!!
You can just hear the dog bark in your head.
There's also the traditional working dog of Korea, the Korean Jindo, which also makes a 멍멍 sound, but just in a deeper voice.
The 진돗개
Fun fact: the 진돗개 is one of South Korea's National Treasures and only dogs born on 진도 (Jindo Island) can be designated as an official 진돗개.
Okay! Moving on to the next one: cats.
In America, cats go "meow", in Korea, cats go "야옹".
A rooster may go "꼬끼오" but a chicken / hen goes "꼬꼬댁" and the chick goes "삐약삐약" 🐣, make sense, right?
Continuing on with more birds, we have the duck, which, for the first time, is CLOSE. In Korean, the duck says "꽥꽥" -- very close to "quack quack"!
And the sparrow goes "짹짹" but should not be confused with "찍찍" because that's the sound a mouse or a rat makes.
Moving over to the farm animals, in America, cows go "moo", but in Korea they go "음메".
For pigs, instead of "oink", they say "꿀꿀"
Goats are once again the only other close one! Koreans give them the sound of: "매애~" (with the little sing-songy ending)
Horses might only be able to vote no on things in the U.S. ("nayyy") but in Korea they exhibit more of a Michael Jackson-esque sound: "히이힝".
Tigers and lions, being the huge ferocious cats they are, with hundreds of pounds of muscle and threateningly sharp claws deserve an equally intense sound. And in Korean, they do.
어흥
And to round out the post (and probably your sanity), we have the humble frog. "Ribbit" might be the sound in the States, but "개굴개굴" is how it is in South Korea.
Final tip, for pretty much every sound we went over, it's possible to add "-이" to the end of the sound which turns it into a way to refer to the animal itself! Like a nickname, it's a cute way to refer animals.
Dog → 멍멍이
Cat → 야옹이
Bird → 짹짹이
Chick → 삐약이
Pig → 꿀꿀이
Well... the frog's official name actually coms from this construction:
Frog →개굴이 → 개구리