Animals Speak

Animals Speak by Lila Prap         18 pages

What an interesting take.     The sounds that animals make in various parts of the world.    I thought this was too fun not to read.    Slovenian writer and illustrator Lilijana Praprotnik Zupancic who’s pen name is Lila Prap came up with the concept of what sounds animals make or at least how we humans interpret them in our various languages throughout the world.     Her premise is that animals do speak the language of the country they are born in just as humans do.    Maybe so.   Animals in other countries hear other languages so it is feasible that they interpret language/words in other countries and would not necessarily understand English terms in Scandinavia or Russian words in the Congo, but, Ms. Prap goes a step further in interpreting the sounds or the language of the animals themselves via the countries they are born in.    While a rooster makes the familiar to our ear Cock-a-Doodle-Do the rooster’s sound is interpreted om Swahili as KoKoliKooo.        Chickens in the United States language is interpreted as Cluck Cluck but in Romania chickens are said to say CotCoDac CotCoDac.   Frogs in the U.S. might sound like Ribbit Ribbit but in Italian it is Gra Gra.    Elephants in Greece are said to say Toyt Toyt  while in Poland it is Trata-Ta-Ta  while in Spain elephants say Prraaahhh!     Who knew our animals friends were as varied in their speech and sounds as humans can be?     Fun book, I highly suggest it for little ones.   A fun time for parents to bring the concept of different languages in to young minds in a joyous way!      There are loads of different languages listed here to say hello to some other species and make their day.