Kokak or Ribbit?

While writing a children’s book that featured animals last year, I was unsure about the sounds they made.  I asked my son how a frog sounds and he said “Ribbit.”

“What? Frogs say ‘kokak,’ not ‘ribbit!’” I argued.

“Well, it depends on the frog actually,” he explained. If it is speaking in English, it says ‘ribbit.’ But if the frog is speaking in Filipino, it says, ‘kokak’,” he explained.

“What kind of argument is that? Animals don’t speak in different languages, they only have one sound each,” I said further.

“If you don’t believe me, mom, ask the younger children,” he said, laughting.

* * *

Okay, I asked some young children in grade school, and they told me exactly the same thing. In fact, they gave me several more examples.

Cow. “Baa” in Filipino; “Moo” in English

Chicken. “Til-tila-ok in Filipino;  “Cock-a-doodle do”  in English

Cat – “Ngiyaw” in Filipino;  “Meow” in English

Dog – “Aw-aw” in Filipino;  “Arf-arf” in English

Goat – “Meh” in Filipino; “Bleeh” in English

The list goes on and on.

* * *

Although animals are not gifted with the ability to talk, we human beings give them their own languages from sounds that we are familiar with. 

I couldn’t believe what I discovered on the Internet!  The animal sounds I mentioned  above have their equivalent in different languages like Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French. German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, etc.

 * * *

The book I was writing was in English, but I decided to make my animal characters speak in Filipino. After all, those are the sounds I am familiar with—and those are the sounds every Filipino child uses when he or she mimics the sounds of his pets. 

Speaking of sounds, we do use those that we actually hear. Because we can’t mimic sounds that we don’t hear often, or at all.

* * *

When we suddenly feel pain, for instance, we say, “Aray!

English-speaking people say, “Ouch!”

Japanese-speaking people say, “Itai!”

Again, the list of words for “Aray” in different languages is long.

* * *

Let me end by quoting a part of a poem entitled Animal Sounds by Deanna C. Dilley, an American, with a slight variation by me. Just for fun, try re-writing it to make the animals sound Filipino. Our language is a large part of who we are. 

Hear the dog bark

And the bee buzz.

Hear the bird chirp

And the cats meow.

Hear the horse neigh

And the cows moo.

Hear the pig oink

and the crow caw.

* * *

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