MetaFilter posts tagged with sounds and language

the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it (as buzz, hiss)

anastasiav — Tue, 07 Jun 2005 20:24:59 -0800

International Onomatopoeic Sounds
[Note: You must have sound for this to be cool]

kichi kichi!

adamgreenfield — Thu, 03 Apr 2003 19:44:04 -0800

Japanese Sound Effects and what they mean. Spotted on Gen Kanai's blog: this rather comprehensive list of sound-effect words from manga - the Japanese equivalent of BAM! WAP!, OOF! (and possibly even D'OH!), but covering a wider range of social and emotional terrain. Lest you surmise that these are more or less arbitrary, I "tested" ten or so on my fiancee and found that she knew every single one. Aaaa!

au-au-au kee-kee-keh ee-aw nano-nano-nah ssst and more fun sounds

madamjujujive — Sun, 09 Feb 2003 15:19:11 -0800

bzzzpeek - a fun site with kids from around the world imitating animals and vehicles in an exercise of onomatopoeia. Similar to a post last year, this version adds sounds from native speakers and some cute visuals, making for a neat toy. MeFi moms & dads take note - submissions from kids age 2 to 7 are invited. flash and sound alert!

jeb — Tue, 30 Apr 2002 13:44:19 -0800

Spanish dogs say "guau guau". Did you ever read comics or something in a language other than your cradle tongue and notice that onomatopoetic words, particularly for animal sounds, are different in different languages? This webpage has animal sounds from loads of languages, organized by language and animal. Indonesian dogs say "gonggong".