It occurred to me that the best way to get a grip on lots of Russian «звукоподражания» [onomatopoeia] is by reading children’s books. After all, onomatopoeia is used by Russian parents and grandparents to teach their little ones the first words.

It’s much easier to say «би-би» [honk-honk] than «машина» [car]; «чу-чу» [chuga-chuga] is easier than «поезд» [train]; and «кап-кап» [drip-drip] is easier to pronounce than «дождь» [rain]. Let the kids enjoy the ease and sonority of the favorable vowels-to-consonants ratio. Once their defenses are down, parents and teachers can spring all sorts of stuff on the unsuspecting kiddos, including «дрозд» [thrush] and «контрстратегия» [counterstrategy].

But let’s get back to business… of reading children’s books. Read books by Корней Иванович Чуковский [Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky] for excellent examples of «идеофоны» [onomatopoeia]. The best one I can think of for animal onomatopoeia is the poem «Путаница» [Mix-up]. «Федорино горе» [Fedora’s Grief] has lots of alliterative onomatopoeia, including this awesome line:

«Куд-куда, куд-куда

Вы откуда и куда…»

Clack-clack, clack-clack

From whence you’re coming and whither you’re going?

Remember how I said that the fun part about Russian onomatopoeia is how one can turn many of these words into verbs and nouns:

Ква-ква» into «квакать» and «кваканье» [“ribit” into “to sound like a frog” into “frog sound”]

«Бабах» into «бабахать» and «бабаханье» [“bang” into “to go off with a bang” into “banging”]

Except, of course, the pesky grammar rules interfere and try to rain on my «парад идеофонов» [onomatopoeia parade] – «кап-кап».

Some Russian onomatopoeia, as it turns out, is not onomatopoeia after all, but rather a cross between onomatopoeia and special verbal modes that are derived by shortening the original infinitive:

«хлопать» [to clap] shortens to «хлоп»

«топать» [to stomp] shortens to «топ»

«шлёпать» [to slap] shortens to «шлёп»

«шмыгать» [to scuttle off] shortens to «шмыг»

«Мышка выбежала из норки, но Ваня не растерялся. Он топ ножками, хлоп ручками, мышка шмыг и снова в норку убежала.»

A little mouse ran out of its burrow, but Vanya kept his wits about him. He stomped his little feet, clapped his little hands and the mouse scuttled back into the burrow.

Compare to this:

«Мышка выбежала из норки и Ванина мама очень испугалась. Она затопала ногами, захлопала руками и мышка шмыгнула в норку.»

A little mouse ran out of its burrow and Vanya’s mom got very scared. She stomped her feet, clapped her hands and the mouse scuttled back into the burrow.

As you can see, onomatopoeia comes in handy when talking to children. However, it is also something commonly used by writers and poems, including the ones that write for the grown-ups:

«Вдруг топот!.. кровь её застыла.
Вот ближе! Скачут… и на двор
Евгений! “Ах!” — и легче тени
Татьяна прыг в другие сени,
С крыльца на двор, и прямо в сад…»

Hoof thud! — her heart was breaking,
It’s coming up! — right to the yard!
Evgeniy! “Ah!” — as shadow swift all of a sudden,
Tatyana jumps to other hall and runs to garden…

(Can you name this poem and its author without first going to this side-by-side English-Russian translation?)

If this question is too easy, how about coming up with some examples of daily onomatopoeia (i.e. beep-beep of your alarm clock, rumble of a passing school bus, screeching of a chair in a cubicle next to you, etc) and translating them into Russian (yes, you can use a dictionary).