Hello, guys! Today’s Podcast will be a lot of fun! Here’s what we’re going to talk about: Sounds people make in English! You must be wondering…”What? How can you talk about such thing?” Well, have you ever noticed that we make sounds when we talk? And I don’t mean the sound of the words themselves, but the noises we make to express many things, but specially emotions or feelings! Would you like an example? Yeah? So, here we go…
When you slightly hurt yourself, what’s the first thing you say? Isn’t it “aaaaiii”? However, in English people wouldn’t say that! Do you know what they would say instead? They would say “ow” or “ouch!” as in “Ouch! I’ve just cut myself!”
Did you get curious to find out some other noises people make when speaking English? You did? So, listen up:
In Portuguese, many people finish their sentences using “né?” As in, “Tá ficando tarde, né?” In English, specially American English, “né?” can be like that: “huh?”.
So, “Tá ficando tarde, né?” would be “It’s getting late, huh?”,
Or “O carro dele é muito legal, né?” would be “His car is really cool, huh?”
We also use “huh?” in English like we use “oi?” or “hã?”in Portuguese when we want to show that we haven’t heard or understood a question. Like that:
– Are you listening to me? (Você está me escutando?)
– Huh? (Oi?)
Our famous “uiii”, said when we’re disgusted about something, becomes “ew”, “yuck”, “ugh”. Like that: “Are you eating bacon ice cream? ew!”.
And what about the sound we make when sneezing? Or pretending to sneeze? We go “atchim”, right? In English people go “Achoo”.
And, do you guys remember when you were at school and someone said something silly and the reply for it was “eeerrr”? Well, in English, one would say “d’oh doh” or only “doh”.
Here’s another one! Our “celebration sound” in Portuguese is usually “uhuul!”, the English version of it can be “yaaay!” or “yahoo!”. Like: “You got the job? Yaaaay!”.
There are times in life that we wish people would stop talking, aren’t there? In these cases, in a non-polite way, “shiii”, or “psiu” is said in Portuguese. In English, people may say “shh”, “hush” or even “shush”. Like this: Hush! I’m trying to pay attention to the teacher here!
What’s your favorite food? Think about it! Isn’t it common to say a clear “uhmm!” the moment you see that delicious dish in front of you? If you go to an English speaking country, you could hear “yum”, “yum-yum”, or “yummy!”. As in “Hey, is that cake? Yummy!”.
How about the sound we make when we want to tell an animal to go away? Isn’t it “xô!”? Well, in English that would be: “Shoo!”.
“When we present something new, especially something that you’re proud of, some of us would go like this: “tarãm!” In English “ta-dah!”. Like that: “Here’s my new car! Ta-dah!”.
And have you ever said “ops!” after doing something wrong? From now on, when you’re speaking English, you can say “oops” or “oopsy”.
Well, the last one for today, for everybody that uses “ah!” to express some feeling of disapproval, in English you would say “oh” as in “Oh, no!” (ah, não!) or “Oh, you wanted sweetener, not sugar!” (Ah, você queria adoçante, não açucar!)
Interesting, huh? Guys, just keep in mind that not everybody uses those sounds, and also, remember that there’s not a correct spelling form for them. This is just the way people usually write what they hear. And those words are called onomatopoeia. And we also have a post here on our blog about it. It’s worth checking it out!
Anyway, I hope you guys had fun listening to this Podcast! See you later, folks!
