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Why do birds go "tsiou tsiou" in Greek but "tweet tweet" in English?
Each language has a different system of sounds. The human mouth can make many sounds, but each language uses only some of them. Newborns learn the sounds of their language quickly, but it takes a long time to learn how to write and how to spell.
Learning to write means learning how sounds are related to symbols. If you think about it, this is a strange thing to do. You take something that uses your mouth and ears and turn it into something that uses your hands and eyes. If you are reading this page, you already know how to do this. Congratulations!
In ancient Greece, people wrote down the animal noises they heard differently from the way we do. Look at the chart below. How would you spell the sounds you hear?
|
Animal
|
Ancient
Greek
|
Modern
English
|
|
Frog
|
brekekekex
koax koax
|
ribbit
|
|
Crow
|
kukkux
|
caw
|
|
Dog
|
bau-bau
|
arf-arf
or woof
|
|
Pig
|
koi-koi
|
oink
oink
|
|
Rooster
|
ki-kikikou
|
cock-a-doodle-doo
|
|
Sheep
|
beh-beh
|
baaah
|
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