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Language | Learn to speak 'Duck' abroad

David Parker April 1, 2025

Photography: Ramona Jones

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, as they say… chances are it’s a duck. But what if you’re in another country and it DOESN’T quack like a duck at all? Animal noises must surely sound the same the world over (though who’s to say if they aren’t speaking French or Spanish at the end of the day?) But interestingly, their sounds are represented differently across the globe. Why is that? 

Language learning app, Duo Lingo has a few answers: “The language you speak shapes which sounds you hear, and how you imagine animals sounding when they make noise. So the way a language represents the noise a pig makes can tell us about what sounds exist in that language and how they form words. For example, in English, the noise a pig makes (oink!) contains the sound combination [ɔɪ], reflecting that this is an acceptable combination of sounds in English, as in the word oil. But not all languages have those two particular vowels, and even if they do, they might not be allowed to be combined that way. In Polish, the noise a pig makes is chrum, where the first sound is sort of between a "k" and a "h"—a sound that doesn't exist in English! (And maybe if we had it, we'd think pigs were saying chrum, too.)”

So that’s pigs sorted. Let’s back to ducks. We’ve done a quick sweep across the globe and translated ‘Quack quack’ into a few different languages, so when you’re next on your travels you’ll know exactly what to say if a duck greets you! 

Welsh - Cwac cwac

French - Coin coin

German - Quak quak

Danish - Rap rap

Dutch - Kwak kwak

Finnish - Kvaak kvaak

Italian - Qua qua

Ukrainian - Kakh kakh

Latvian - pēk pēk

Icelandic - Bra bra

Bulgarian - Na na

Romanian - Mac mac

Mandarin (presumably Mandarin Ducks?) - 嘎嘎 (gā gā)

We couldn’t get enough of ducks in our April issue. The cover features some very fluffy ducklings, you can meet some ducks in our ‘My Plot’ pages and our ‘Magical Creatures’ feature looks at ducks this month, too. The issue is on sale now. The ducklings above belong to Ramona Jones, whose garden features in our My Plot pages this month. Her book Growing (Ebury Press) with additional photography by Aaron Gibson, is out now.

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Feb 27, 2025
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See the sample of our latest issue here

Buy a copy of our latest anthology: A Year of Celebrations

Buy a copy of Flourish 2, our wellbeing bookazine

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Feb 27, 2025
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The Simple Things is published by Iceberg Press

The Simple Things

Taking time to live well

We celebrate slowing down, enjoying what you have, making the most of where you live, enjoying the company of of friends and family, and feeding them well. We like to grow some of our own vegetables, visit local markets, rummage for vintage finds, and decorate our home with the plunder. We love being outdoors and enjoy the satisfaction that comes with a job well done.

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