Swell Creative

In a couple recent discussions about imitating farm animal sounds in a foreign language, the room has been split on whether or not they would be said the same. My view is that since we’re imitating the sounds phonetically, of course they would be the same. The other side said, no, that the baying of a french cow would be said differently by humans. Well it turns out both sides are a little correct. Here are a couple excerpts:

COW:  English: Moo. French: Meuh. Italian: Muu.

BEE: English: Buzz. German: Summ Summ. Japanese: Boon Boon.

What the hell kind of bees live in Japan? They sound terrifying!