So, if the sound is “softer” it’s often written in hiragana, while katakana is used for stronger or “harder” sounds. The choice of which tends to be determined by the sound of the word itself. They’re nice and easy, in the sense that onomatopoeia is almost always written in either hiragana or katakana. So why not throw a fun, quirky little set of words into the works of your more serious Japanese study by learning this list of onomatopoeic Japanese words for animal sounds? Some Things to Keep in Mind About Animal Sounds Meanwhile, while you’re in that country, these native sounds really do sound more like the local words for them! Dogs do seem to say “wan wan” rather than “woof,” and heartbeats sound more like “doki doki” than “ba-boom, ba-boom.” Trick of the mind? Or true? The strangest and most fun thing about onomatopoeia in foreign languages is that, when you first read them aloud, you think “um, this sounds completely wrong. The one for human and animal sounds is called 擬声語 (ぎせいご), and you’ll hear its content a lot from natives. So, here’s a fun little exercise for you. Learning some onomatopoeia is a great way to liven up your Japanese and make yourself sound a little more like a local-and a verbose one at that! Common onomatopoeia can be broken up into categories, depending on what the sound is used to describe.

So, sometimes you need to take a break from serious study and just learn something for the fun of it. While there are many benefits of learning a new language, the whole experience has to stay fun in order to keep your focus and motivation alive. Try FluentU for FREE! Why Bother Learning Onomatopoeia? Not to mention all the words you have to remember from right at the beginning of your study!ĭownload: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that youĬan take anywhere. There’s just so much to learn, and it’s so hard to figure out where to even begin to tackle the task ahead.Įven when you’re well into a language, there always seems to be so many more words to learn. There are thousands of onomatopoeia in Japanese, which add wonderful texture to the language.įor me, learning vocab is the most tedious and difficult part of learning a new language. So, you’re starting to gain some fluency in Japanese, and you’re eager to converse with Japanese natives.ĭo you know how a Japanese cat meows, how a horse neighs or how to describe the trumpeting of an elephant? By lucymoffatt Eliza Thornberry Does Japanese: 16+ Japanese Animal Sounds You’ve Got to Know

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