[Illustration]
When in El Salvador in 1951, I found that the common barnyard animals
had much the same voices as the ones with which I was familiar in
the United States. But when I saw their utterances written down it
was another matter. The voices written in Spanish sometimes looked
as different as the names of the animals written in Spanish. Take
the donkey, for example (or _burro_, as they call it in Spanish). In
English we call its "song" "Heehaw!" In Spanish they wrote it for me,
"Aja! Aja! Ija! Ija!" There were a number of German scientists at the
Instituto Tropical de Investigaciones Científicas, where I was working,
and for comparison I asked them to write for me what the same animals
said in German. The burro (_Esel_, they call it in German) says,
"_Ihå! Ihå!_" in German. Despite the difference in the appearance of
these words, when they were pronounced by the various nationalities
they sounded very similar. Compared with the original assinine
pronunciation, the Spanish version was awarded the prize for being the
best rendition of the beast's voice.
The cat's "_Miau, miau, miau_" in Spanish, "_Miau, miau_" in German,
and "Meow" in English were all very similar in appearance as well as
sound. The duck's voice came out differently. In Spanish it was "_Cuá,
cuá, cuá_," in German "_Wack, wack_," and in English the initial "Cu"
or "Q" sound of the Spanish, and the final "k" sound of the German
are united into "quack." The hoot owl came out much the same in
pronunciation, though it looked different in the Spanish "_Ju_," in
German "_Hu_," and in English "Who."
The cow's, the pig's, and the frog's voices were also rather similar
in the three languages: the cow's in Spanish being "_Meu, meu,
muuu_," in German "_Mŭh, mŭh_," and in English "Moo"; the pig's
"_Grup-grup, wink_," "_Óŭik, Óŭik_," and "Grunt, oink"; and the frog's
"_Cruac, croac, croac_" "_Quak, quak_," and "Croak." The barnyard
rooster has a difficult voice to transcribe in letters. In Spanish
it was "_Quiquiriguiiii_," in German "_Kickeriki_," and in English
"Cock-a-doodle-do." After listening to the various renditions by the
various nations I could see how each rendition came into being, but as
for deciding which was closest to the original I hesitated to choose.
When it came to the dog, the discrepancy was surprising: in Spanish
it was "_Guán, guán, guán_," in German "_Waŭ, waŭ_," and in English
"Bowwow." The German and the English are close enough. But though I
went outside and listened to the dogs in Salvador, never did they seem
to say, "_Guán, guán, guán_," though I must admit that neither did they
seem to say, "Bowwow."