Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Old McDonald's Korean Dog Goes Mung-Mung?

Animals of the same species obviously do not make different sounds depending on their geographic location.  Humans are unique in that regard with our many different languages.  In these many languages, one of the first things most children learn as soon as (or maybe even before) we can speak is what sounds different animals make.  Whether it be from children songs such as "Old McDonald" or children's books or toys, we all learn that the cow goes "moo" at an early age.

Now, a cow in Korea doesn't sound any different from a cow in the USA and neither does a cat, dog, or pig.  This is why I found it so surprising and amusing to learn that Koreans interpret animals' sounds way differently than we do in USA.  Below is a list I have comprised comparing animal sounds between Korean and English interpretations.  Many are different, with some sounding more accurate than the English version (the tiger), and some sounding nothing like the animal (the frog and pig).  Still, others are quite similar in both languages, such as the (the rooster and duck).

Comment below which you think is the strangest:


Animal English Korean
Dog woof woof mung mung (멍멍)
Cat meow ya ong (야옹)
Rooster cockadoodle-do ggo ggi oh (꼬끼오)
Tiger rawr uh heung (어흥)
Duck quack quack ggwaek ggwaek (꽥꽥)
Pig oink oink ggool ggool (꿀꿀)
Frog ribbit ribbit gae gol gae gol (개골개골)
Mouse squeak squeak jjik jjik (찍찍)
Sheep bahhh maeae (매애)
Cow moo eum mae (음매)

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