Animals and language..give me your thoughts?

Question

Man how can i explain this one....I've always wondered if animals... who we know communicate w/each other have language barriers like we do. If I... who knows english goes to china it would be extremely hard almost impossible to talk to someone from Japan. So i've wondered... if you got a animal (example-dog) from United States would it be able to bark and understand a dog from Japan or Russia or France...etc. Its very easy for us to know when someone is from out of town, does the animal kingdom know the same thing. So hopefully know one thinks i'm way to bored or crazy to answer this question...Thanks

Answer 1

It doesn't matter what language the dog speaks.  It's all the same: http://www.modernpooch.com/archives/FarS...

Answer 2

I'm not sure  if your question is entirely serious, but here are my thoughts.

Animals do not have the same kind of languages we do that correspond to our native countries, they have one universal "language", so to speak. Dogs do not have different languages from the different countries they are from. Dogs are relatives of the wolf and have retained most of their communication styles from their ancestors and having adapted to living with us by tweaking certain behaviors here and there. Dogs do not have different dialects and can understand each other perfectly well from Japan to Australia, not by barking words, but by tones, whimpers, growls, facial and body gestures and tail posture.

Answer 3

interesting. i have never thought about that. hmm, i have no idea. but that sure is an interesting thought :) thanks for sharing!

Answer 4

I heard where this guy in Germany only talked to his German Shepard in his native language. He taught him all commands in German. So yes I beleive that animals can have language barriers just like people. If the dog came here to the US how would he understand any commands in English, he wouldn't unless we taught him.

Answer 5

Human to dog, there would be barriers.  But not dog to dog.  There may be slight customs, but dogs have the same language just about anywhere you go.  The worst problem would be more along the lines of if they never saw a dog like that before.  For instance, greyhounds often only see greyhounds during their racing days.  When they get out of racing, and see a labrador, or a great dane, or pomeranian, these are completely strange dogs to their way of thinking.  And then you have the dogs who have communication faults, for instance floppy ears that are hard to read, or faces that are one color so you can't see their mouth and eyes as well, or a curled tail/no tail, or really long fur that obscures everything.  

Answer 6

This question is confusing me, lol, and it's messing with my head, lol.

I think once that animal ( dog ) would try to start a friendly conversation ( haha, jk )....

   no, i think dog language is pretty much all the same, as well as other animals, but the dog commands would be different, such as sit, down, and no, but obviously it would be different in japan, but the dogs would be able to understand eachother, because they don't talk to eachother in our language, which is different

Answer 7

This would be a good topic, except it's too easy to answer.  An animal learns from it's surroundings, for example; if you say, "Sit" in english, it knows that command.  Sit in german it would NOT understand, unless it's from Germany.   Dogs (animals) don't understand language - per say.  It's repetitivness that they understand.

As for BODY language from an animal to another, etc. - it's the same.  For example; when a horse pins it's ears back, it's pissed!  All horses, no matter where they are from, will know that horse is pissed... Nothing need be said.  Animals don't speak in words as humans do - it's signals and body language.  It's the same "universally" for animals.  If not, they could not survive.

Answer 8

wow this is actually a very interesting I've never thought of this at all. I think aside from native accents, we all have different habits and living styles that transfer to our new place. Perhaps a dog from the US/ Canada might differ from that from China. They can also read each other's sound wave and how they make it, just like we all laugh, smile, and cry the same way