Pow! Bang! Whack!
Yes, those are the English equivalents, but they are not the only onomatopoeia that we use. There are words that represent the voices of people and animals, the sounds of things, conditions, actions, feelings and emotions.
Don’t freak out, but…Japanese has many, many, many more onomatopoeia than English. However, the good news is that they are seen a lot in Manga so with the pictures to guide you, Manga is a great place to learn. Check out a few of them in this Onomatopeia rap.
Here are my top four favourite Japanese onomatopoeia:
ぎゃー
Gyaa
You may notice a few that sound quite similar to what we might say in English. You can imagine this one, right? Perfect timing for Halloween! If someone makes you jump you would likely say something similar. You would utter a scream or a shriek!
にゃんにゃん
Nyan nyan
If you don’t know me well yet you might not know that I have three cats – a bit of a crazy cat lady! So, of course, I learned this one very quickly, it is the Japanese version of a cat meowing. Did you realise that animals in Japan also speak in a different Japanese animal language? I remember when I heard that it really surprised me! Do you know some of the other animal sound words?
わくわく
Waku waku
This means excited. I heard this one a lot from my students and actually from my Japanese friends when they discussed upcoming events! It also happens to be a title of a great YouTube series. They have an onomatopoeia lesson here.
きらきら
Kira kira
I always remember this because when I was in Japan I taught English to identical twin girls Kira and Sena. They were so alike it was really difficult for me to tell them apart. Then one day my Japanese colleagues gave me a tip to help me… Kira had a tiny freckle near her lip and my colleague said it was like a single twinkling star. Kira Kira means to sparkle. So from then on, I remembered which twin was which and I learned a new word for sparkling, shining.
Which Japanese onomatopoeia do you already know? Let me know in the comment below.
P.s. Onomatopoeia often have repeated sounds (but not every time)
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