wayfaringwordhack | I've got your onomatopoeia right here (Reply)

We got a free catfood sample at a local grocery store, and the sack reminded me of the oddities of onomatopoeias across languages.* This is always interesting to me but especially so since we are awaiting a little one. A little one whom we will raise in a bilingual household. I guess I'll do animal sounds with Little Bean in English, and Julien will teach him or her the French, like the alphabet. The poor kid is probably going to have a heck of a time learning to spell his or her name.

In French vs English, some onomatopoeias are similar, but because of pronunciation rules, they are spelled differently. Case in point, the sound a cat makes: Meow as opposed to miaou. Here are the examples from the sack in question:

"Mmmh" is easy enough. "Waouh" is an odd, almost-imperceptible smoosh between "wow" and "whoa." But "miam," do you know what English sound that translates, too?

How about these animal sounds:

Hiii
Meuh
Coin
Cot cot
grouin
ouaf waf

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* When I first arrived in France as an au pair, the kids I babysat did not understand when I said "aie aie aie;" they taught me, instead, to say "oy oy oy."

And speaking of sounds, French boys don't whistle at pretty girls the same way US boys do. Just so you know.