And welcome to a new learning quiz. Hooray! And this is the first part of what I think could be a fun little mini series. Double hooray.
Because today, we’ll do a little quiz on
German words for Sounds
Here’s how it works:
In each question, I give you a typical sound as well as a description for what types of things the sound word would be used for.
And then I’ll give you four verbs, each with audio, so you can actually hear how they sound when spoken. And you have to pick which verb you think German uses for the actual sound and theme.
And along with each answer, I’ll give some reasoning how Germans perceive the sound and what the other ones might stand for.
We’ll go over 7 verbs and there’s some built in repetition and recall and a proper recap at the end, so I’ pretty sure after the quiz you’ll have learned at least a few of them.
If you then want to practice more, you can use my reading comprehension mode to make a short text around these words.
And… drumroll… you can also review the words as flashcard now. Yup, surprise new feature!! You’ll see it below.
So if you’re ready, let’s hop right in.
Oh, by the way… I did an overview lesson over sound words a long time ago. It’s not as fun and interactive as this quiz, but if you’re interested in this stuff, you might like it.
I’ll link it up below, and also one that’s specifically about words for body noises.
But now, viel Spass mit dem Quiz :)
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Quiz Summary
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Let’s start with one of the most famous ones. Which word does German use for this sound?
It’s the word for the sound of the sea or white noise, brown noise and basically all kind of “sh” sounds.
Correct
Incorrect
Question 2 of 9
2. Question
Next up, one more water sound.
The sound of a small creek or a small fountain. What do Germans call this usually?
Correct
Incorrect
Question 3 of 9
3. Question
Now, let’s do one that’s not water-related.
It’s the sound of a door or brakes when they need oir, or tires on the road in movies when they make crazy turns.
Correct
Incorrect
Question 4 of 9
4. Question
And another water-related sound.
It’s the sound of a slowly simmering soup or when you fart under water. What do you think German calls it?
Correct
Incorrect
Question 5 of 9
5. Question
What about this sound? What do you think it is called in German?
It’s the sound of a small fire burning or the sound of small twigs breaking.
Correct
Incorrect
Question 6 of 9
6. Question
Now, let’s do one for fall season.
It’s the sound when we walk through dry leafs and also when we mess around with a newspaper or nestle around in our chips bag in the movies to take out another handful.
Correct
Incorrect
Question 7 of 9
7. Question
Last but not least… this one:
It’s the sound of air hissing out of through a small hole under high pressure and also the sound that describes letter sounds like “sss” and “shhh”.
Correct
Incorrect
Question 8 of 9
8. Question
And now, let’s do a little recap round without the audios, just from memory and imagination.
Match the word with the right description. (Drag and drop. You can adjust as often as you want.)
Sort elements
rauschen
plätschern
blubbern
zirpen
The sounds of the ocean and broadband noise
Water over rocks, like in a small creek.
Bubbles in water or another liquid.
Sound of crickets
Correct
Incorrect
Question 9 of 9
9. Question
And let’s do the other ones as well, again, just from memory and imagination.
Match by drag and drop!
Sort elements
quietschen
rascheln
knistern
zischen
Metal that lacks oil, tires in movies and similar squeal and squeak.
Walking through dry leaves in fall.
A fireplace or twigs breaking.
Air hissing out through a valve or small opening.
Correct
Incorrect
***
So, how’d you do? Was it intuitive or not at all? It’s really hard to tell for me, because the sounds are of course associated with the verb in my mind, so to me the verbs all really fit. But I’m curious about your opinions on this. Do you think the words fit? And what would they be in your mother tongue?
Let me know in the comments below.
So yeah, that’s it for today. If you want to practice these words more, use my reading comprehension practice below. And you can also review the words as flashcard with flashcard mode. That’s brand new so treat it like it’s a beta version :).
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this, have a great Sunday or Monday or any day and I’ll see you soon.
here, you can review the vocabulary, add it to your flashcard decks, and practice it as flashcards or in-context reading practice.
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This one was comparatively easy but I don’t know if it’s because I already knew most of the words, or if the sounds of the words mirrored the actual sound somehow, as in your descriptions. I suspect the former; I learned a lot of onomatopeoic vocabulary when reading Hans Bemmann’s novel ‘Stein und Flöte’ many years ago.
I’m sure you know this – the german word for onomatopoeia is literally ‘sound-painting’ .. die Lautmalerei – a perfect translation to me.
Art Galvan
Side by side is best for me because I think in English and then try to figure out the proper translation it’s very difficult to do. If you think in German it’s probably easy for you.
Steve Turkel
Very clever; Sehr klug!
stosselgg
I prefer the stacked view so that I can read a paragraph at a time and check my understanding of each one.
RuthE
It turns out that I do like side-by-side better.
I had difficulty reading the explanation – the font was too light for some reason. Also, I got ‘incorrect’ on two that I had gotten right according to the explanation!!
I’m going back over this right away – it was really interesting matching the words to the sounds, with the cultural filters to consider.
I really love your ingenious ways of getting comprehension and recall into learning German.
I fixed the explanation background (I think you’re in night mode, right?) Could you tell me which ones you got a wrong for despite selecting the correct one? I just tried and it seems to work fine, but maybe I’m missing something.
plaxos
Deutsch und Englisch nebeneinander statt untereinander in der Email sieht mir besser aus.
Harald
Just wanted to add ” Gezwitscher” (chirping of birds rather than “Gezirpe” of crickets or cicadas), “Gequietsch” of rodents, “Gejammer” of complaining humans, finally, the “Gedroen” of incessant machinery….
Harald, immer her damit! (Well that’s what Google Translate gave me for “Keep them coming!”) These onomatopoetic words are marvelous – they’re all going into my Personal Glossary file. And I have to look up the Shubert Lied.
LCantoni
I did surprisingly well! German really does do onomatopoeia well. I was delighted to guess “plätschern” from the English word “plash” (or “splash,” of course). Thanks for this fun quiz!
sheena
in English we say “rustle” for the sound of leaves when you walk through them (rascheln) – a very similar word
and another word you might need to know right now is the word for the lovely soft “ohhh” or “oooh” sounds that a baby makes – in English it’s “cooing”
Oh, I learned this word recently, and it’s soooo cute. Especially what it stands for. Pure joy! We don’t really have a word for this specific thing in German.
Lovely point there, sheena! We also have the verb “saeuseln”, as in the text to a Schubert Lied, “Ruhig,ruhig, bleib ruhig mein Kind! Nur die Blaetter SAEUSELT der Wind.”
Vice versa. In both languages, certain terms just don’t translate and are simply perfect or right in their individual contexts!
Harald
Sometimes in German, we use the collective in order specify generic noises or sounds, e.g. das Gekreisch for the screech of brakes, das Gesumme for the buzzing of insects, also die Geraeusche for the background murmerings of a forest etc.
Lots more where that came from!
Last edited 1 day ago by Harald
vasilyec
When I heard the sounds I guessed correctly 6 out of 7. But then, when I needed to remember which word described which sound, here I failed 50%
I mean, 50% correct recall over 8 word after pretty much one session is a pretty decent rate for vocabulary learning :)
ExDC
Two more comments, after using the flashcards: I learned a new English word! I didn’t know “chirr” at all. In the US, I think we’d say that crickets “chirp” – which fits “zirpen” pretty well. Also in the US, I’d say glasses “clink,” rather than “chink” for “klirren.” Now, I hope to see those verbs in the Story Generator…
Exactly, either the first or the second. Maybe though I’d go with the first, but that’s just me.
ExDC
But now, 4.10.26 10:36 PM CEST, the mp3 for knistern is not properly embedded into the page – it just displays the URL, which can be clicked on and played, but seeing the URL gives the answer away!
Audio Speed
Dark Mode
This one was comparatively easy but I don’t know if it’s because I already knew most of the words, or if the sounds of the words mirrored the actual sound somehow, as in your descriptions. I suspect the former; I learned a lot of onomatopeoic vocabulary when reading Hans Bemmann’s novel ‘Stein und Flöte’ many years ago.
I’m sure you know this – the german word for onomatopoeia is literally ‘sound-painting’ .. die Lautmalerei – a perfect translation to me.
Side by side is best for me because I think in English and then try to figure out the proper translation it’s very difficult to do. If you think in German it’s probably easy for you.
Very clever; Sehr klug!
I prefer the stacked view so that I can read a paragraph at a time and check my understanding of each one.
It turns out that I do like side-by-side better.
I had difficulty reading the explanation – the font was too light for some reason. Also, I got ‘incorrect’ on two that I had gotten right according to the explanation!!
I’m going back over this right away – it was really interesting matching the words to the sounds, with the cultural filters to consider.
I really love your ingenious ways of getting comprehension and recall into learning German.
Oh, also – zirpen sounds a lot like chirp – the sound that crickets make. :)
I fixed the explanation background (I think you’re in night mode, right?)
Could you tell me which ones you got a wrong for despite selecting the correct one? I just tried and it seems to work fine, but maybe I’m missing something.
Deutsch und Englisch nebeneinander statt untereinander in der Email sieht mir besser aus.
Just wanted to add ” Gezwitscher” (chirping of birds rather than “Gezirpe” of crickets or cicadas), “Gequietsch” of rodents, “Gejammer” of complaining humans, finally, the “Gedroen” of incessant machinery….
Harald, immer her damit! (Well that’s what Google Translate gave me for “Keep them coming!”) These onomatopoetic words are marvelous – they’re all going into my Personal Glossary file. And I have to look up the Shubert Lied.
I did surprisingly well! German really does do onomatopoeia well. I was delighted to guess “plätschern” from the English word “plash” (or “splash,” of course). Thanks for this fun quiz!
in English we say “rustle” for the sound of leaves when you walk through them (rascheln) – a very similar word
and another word you might need to know right now is the word for the lovely soft “ohhh” or “oooh” sounds that a baby makes – in English it’s “cooing”
Oh, I learned this word recently, and it’s soooo cute. Especially what it stands for. Pure joy! We don’t really have a word for this specific thing in German.
In my opinion, the English expression is closer more to actual the sound than our “Gurren”, don’t you think?
I think I only use gurren for “Tauben”, but I guess it could fit the baby cooing too.
Lovely point there, sheena!
We also have the verb “saeuseln”, as in the text to a Schubert Lied, “Ruhig,ruhig, bleib ruhig mein Kind! Nur die Blaetter SAEUSELT der Wind.”
säuseln is a really great word. It’s a sweet whispering basically.
Vice versa. In both languages, certain terms just don’t translate and are simply perfect or right in their individual contexts!
Sometimes in German, we use the collective in order specify generic noises or sounds, e.g. das Gekreisch for the screech of brakes, das Gesumme for the buzzing of insects, also die Geraeusche for the background murmerings of a forest etc.
Lots more where that came from!
When I heard the sounds I guessed correctly 6 out of 7. But then, when I needed to remember which word described which sound, here I failed 50%
I mean, 50% correct recall over 8 word after pretty much one session is a pretty decent rate for vocabulary learning :)
Two more comments, after using the flashcards: I learned a new English word! I didn’t know “chirr” at all. In the US, I think we’d say that crickets “chirp” – which fits “zirpen” pretty well. Also in the US, I’d say glasses “clink,” rather than “chink” for “klirren.” Now, I hope to see those verbs in the Story Generator…
Oh, “das Geklirr” for the clatter of wine glasses or the like. Truly onomotopaeic in German, isn’t it though.
Agree, definitely clink, not chink.
All right, I’ve added that as translation.
As I learned, chink is more like a tear or slight flaw in something such as a chink in the armor.
In German off the top of my head, possibly Riss, even Fehler?
Riss or Sprung is what I’d say.
Exactly, either the first or the second. Maybe though I’d go with the first, but that’s just me.
But now, 4.10.26 10:36 PM CEST, the mp3 for knistern is not properly embedded into the page – it just displays the URL, which can be clicked on and played, but seeing the URL gives the answer away!
Argh, these legacy software glitches are driving me crazy :D!
The mp3 for #7 is the ‘knistern’ mp3 from #5. The words become more intuitively linked to the sounds with a bit of practice (and closed eyes). 8 of 9
Oh thanks, fixed it!!