Strange Sounds in Different Languages

Sometimes when you’re are teaching English or learning English you discover strange things about different languages. This week in class Anne-Marie discovered that dogs make different noises in Arabic, Spanish, French and Italian! We then discovered other strange things… For example, in English the sound “smack” is what we hear when you hit someone in the face, but in French “smack” is the the sound of a kiss. Another strange one was that in English a pig says “oink” whereas in Hungarian a pig says “hunk”. A “hunk” in English is a strong and attractive man.

Needless to say, we love these posters by James Chapman. He is a young English artist who loves making posters about how things sound in different languages. In this poster he explores what it sounds like when we kiss, drink and jump into swimming pools in different languages.
Chapman is completing his physics PhD and when he’s not doing that he works as an illustrator in Manchester.