{"id":20222,"date":"2014-04-14T04:00:03","date_gmt":"2014-04-14T02:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=20222"},"modified":"2017-10-23T12:19:33","modified_gmt":"2017-10-23T10:19:33","slug":"pan-pan-french-vs-english-onomatopoeias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/pan-pan-french-vs-english-onomatopoeias\/","title":{"rendered":"Pan-Pan!: French vs. English Onomatopoeias"},"content":{"rendered":"

The word onomatop\u00e9e<\/b> (onomatopoeia) has been floating around the Internet as of late and I thought it would be fun to devote a post to French onomatopoeias vs. their English counterparts.<\/p>\n

What is an onomatopoeia<\/i>? An onomatopoeia is a word meant to mimic a certain sound made by un humain<\/b> (a human), un animal <\/b>(an animal) or un objet<\/b> (an object). The spelling of an onomatopoeia should sound as close as possible to the actual sound it is trying to imitate.<\/p>\n

The word itself comes from two Ancient Greek words: onoma<\/i> meaning name<\/i>, and poieo<\/i> meaning to produce<\/i>.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s run through a few onomatopoeias in both French and English to give us an idea of how people hear things differently. You\u2019ll find a number of these in both French and English bandes dessin\u00e9es<\/b> (comic books), dessins anim\u00e9s<\/b> (cartoons) and livres pour enfants<\/b> (children\u2019s books). Keep in mind that there can be several onomatopoeias for the same sound but these are just some of the more popular ones.<\/p>\n

The first onomatopoeia will be in French and the second in English.<\/p>\n

Human Sounds<\/b>:<\/p>\n

1. Sleep<\/b>: ron-ron<\/i> vs. zzzzzzz<\/i><\/p>\n

2. Sneeze<\/b>: atchoum<\/i> vs. achoo<\/i><\/p>\n

3. Expression of pain<\/b>: a\u00efe!<\/i> vs. ouch!<\/i><\/p>\n

4. Crying baby<\/b>: ouin-ouin<\/i> vs. wah-wah<\/i><\/p>\n

5. Drinking<\/b>: glou-glou<\/i> vs. slurp\/glug<\/i><\/p>\n

6. Beating heart<\/b>: poum-poum<\/i> vs. thump-thump<\/i><\/p>\n

7. Hushing<\/b>: chut<\/i> vs. shh<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Animal Sounds<\/b>:<\/p>\n

1. Rooster<\/b>: cocorico<\/i> vs. cock-a-doodle-doo<\/i><\/p>\n

2. Pig<\/b>: groin-groin<\/i> vs. oink-oink<\/i><\/p>\n

3. Bird<\/b>: cui-cui<\/i> vs. tweet-tweet<\/i><\/p>\n

4. Duck<\/b>: coin-coin<\/i> vs. quack-quack<\/i><\/p>\n

5. Frog<\/b>: croac-croac<\/i> vs. ribit\/croak<\/i><\/p>\n

6. Snake<\/b>: siff<\/i> vs. hiss\/sss<\/i><\/p>\n

7. Owl<\/b>: ouh-ouh<\/i> vs. hoo-hoo<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sounds made by objects<\/b>:<\/p>\n

1. Clock<\/b>: tic-tac<\/i> vs. tick-tock<\/i><\/p>\n

2. Ambulance siren<\/b>: pin-pon<\/i> vs. wee-woo<\/i><\/p>\n

3. Gun firing<\/b>: pan-pan!<\/i> vs. bang-bang!<\/i><\/p>\n

4. Car door slamming<\/b>: vlan!<\/i> vs. wham!<\/i><\/p>\n

5. Water dripping<\/b>: plic-plic<\/i> vs. drip-drip<\/i><\/p>\n

6. Doorbell ringing<\/b>: dingue-dongue<\/i> vs. ding-dong<\/i><\/p>\n

7. Telephone ringing<\/b>: dring-dring<\/i> vs. ring-ring<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

The word onomatop\u00e9e (onomatopoeia) has been floating around the Internet as of late and I thought it would be fun to devote a post to French onomatopoeias vs. their English counterparts. What is an onomatopoeia? An onomatopoeia is a word meant to mimic a certain sound made by un humain (a human), un animal (an…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":23853,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20222","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vocabulary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t