Onomatopoeia

 Reddit users were sharing the onomatopoeias of their native languages. Interesting enough, almost all of the examples were animal noises. You can look at he link yourself, or check out the list below.

American English:

• meow = cat
  
• woof = dog
  
• moo = cow
  
• knock knock = knocking on door
  
• tweet tweet = bird
  
• pow pow (or bang bang) = gun shooting
  
• pew pew = blaster
  
• who who = owl
  
• cheep cheep = chick
  
• neigh = horse
  
• cockle-doodle-do = rooster
• ribbit = frog
• caw caw = seagull
• bahhh = sheep

Brazilian Portuguese:

• Miau = cat
• Au au = dog
• Muuu = cow
• toc toc = knocking on door
• Piu piu = smal chick
• bam = gun shooting 

Cantonese:

• mao = cat
  
• gao = dog (their bark is woe woe)
  
• nouw = cow
  
• jew jew = laser beams (jew also means banana, "banana banana"! )

Catalan:

• Miau = Cat
• bup bup = Dog
• Muuu = Cow
• piu piu = Bird
• toc toc = Knocking
• Pam, Pum = Gun

Danish:

• Mjauw = cat
• Vov = dog
• Muh = cow
• Bank bank = knocking
• Pip pip = bird
• Bang = gunshot

Dutch

• Miauw = cat
• Woef/waf = dog
• Moe = cow
• Klop klop = knocking on the door
• Tjilp tjilp = bird
• Pang = gun shooting
• Vroem = car
  
• Kwak kwak = duck 
  
• Ka-ching/Ka-tjing! = cash register
  
• knor knor = pig

  European Portuguese:

• Miau = cat
• Ão ão = dog
• Muuu = cow
• Truz truz = knocking on door
• Piu piu = small chick
• Bang = gun shooting
  
• HAHA = laugh
• Caim = Dog yelp

Finnish:

• miau = cat
  
• vuh, hau = dog
  
• muu (sometimes 'ammuu') = cow
  
• kop kop = knocking on the door
  
• piip piip = small bird
  
• pam = gun shooting
  
• titityy = bird
  
• kvaak kvaak =duck ( "kääk" if the Duck is Donald )
• röh röh = pig
• böö = boo
  (The verb for frogs' sound is "kurnuttaa", it is not usually written as a sound itself, just as a verb.)
 

French Canadian:

• Miaou = cat
• Wouf = dog
• Meuh = cow
• toc toc = knocking on the door
• pit pit = bird (french canadian only)
• pan = gun shooting, we use also "pow"
• Vroum = car
• coin coin = duck
• Kashing! = sound of a cash register
• groin groin = pig
• toudoumtsi = rimshot
• bouh = boo (when you try to scared someone)
• rabbit rabbit = frog

German:

• Miau = Cat
  
• Wau or Wuff = dog
  
• Muh = cow
  
• klopf klopf = knocking on door
  
• gurrgurr = dove (there's no one for birds in general, at least I don't know it)
  
• klopf klopf = knocking on the door
  
• Brumm brumm = Car
  
• Quak Quaak = Duck
  
• Ding = Cash register
  
• grunz grunz / oink oink = Pig
  
• bada bum dschsch = rimshot
  
• Buh! = scare
  
• quaaaak quaaaack = frog
  
• päng päng! = Gunshot
  

Greek:

• Μιαου = cat
  
• Γουφ = dog
  
• Μου = cow
  
• τοκ τοκ = knocking on the door
  
• τσιου τσιου = bird
  
• Μπαμ = gun shooting
  

Gujarati (ગુજરાતી):

• મિયાંઉ = cat
  
• ભાઉંભાઉં = dog
  
• ભોંઓઓ = cow
  
• ઠક ઠક = knocking on the door
  
• ચીંચીં = bird (small)
  
• ધડૂમ or ધડામ = gun shooting

Icelandic:

• Mjá = cat
• Voff = dog
• Mu/Mú = cow
• Bank bank = knocking on the door
• Bíbí = bird
• Bang = gun shooting

Irish Gaelic

• miao = cat
• bhuf = dog
• mú = cow
• cnag cnag = knocking on the door
• tsíp tsíp = bird
• plimp = gun shooting

Japanese

• Nya-Nya = cat
  
• wan-wan = dog
  
• don-don = knock
  
• chun-chun = pigeon
  
• ban = gun
  
• gero-gero = frog
  
• ki-ki = monkey
  
• shuwa-shuwa = sparkling
  
• ju-ju = grilling meat
  
• goshi-goshi = washing something
  
• momi-momi = squeezing body parts (i.e. boobs)
  

Korean:

• (야옹) ya-ong = cat
  
• (멍멍 / 왈왈) mung-mung / war-war = dog
  
• (음메) mm-meh = cow
  
• (톡톡) tok-tok = knock on door
  
• (빵/팡) BBANG / PANG = gun shot
  
• (빵빵) ppang-ppang = honk
  
• (꽥) queck = duck
  
• (꿀꿀) kkool-kkool = pig
  
• (짹짹) check-check = small bird
  
• (히히잉) hee-hee-heeing = horse
  
• (꼬끼오) kko-kkio = rooster
  
• (찌지직) chi-zi-zick = ripping paper
  
• (두근 두근) doo-goon doo-goon = heart beat
  

Norwegian

• Mjau = Cat
• Voff = Dog
• Bank bank = Knocking
• Pip pip = Bird
• Pang = Gunshot
• Kykkeliky = Rooster 
• Nøff = Pig
• Bæææ = Sheep

Polish:

• Miał miał = cat
• Hał hał = dog
• Muuu = cow
• Puk, puk = knocking on the door
• Paf paf = gun
• Ćwir Ćwir = bird
• Puk Puk = knocking

Russian (Русский):

• Мяу [Myaoo] = cat
  
• Гав [Gaw] = dog
  
• Мууу [Mooo] = cow
  
• Тук-тук [Took-took] = knocking on the door
  
• Чик-чирик [Chyk-chyrik] = bird
  
• Бах or бам [Bakh or bam] = gun shot or an explosion
  
• Хахахаха [hahahaha] = laughter
  
• Kukariku = Rooster
  
• Hruk = Pig
  

Spanish:

• Miau = cat
  
• Guau guau = dog
  
• Muuu = cow
  
• toc toc = knocking on the door
  
• pio pio = bird
  
• pum = gun shooting
  
• ja ja ja= laughing

Swedish:

• Mjau = cat
• Vov = dog
• Muu = cow
• Knack knack = knocking on the door
• kvitter = bird
• Pang = gun shooting
• Gnägg = Horse
• Pip pip = Mouse
• Nöff = Pig
• Bääää = Shepp
• Grrrr = Tiger
• Kvitt kvitt = Bird
• Kraa Kraa = Crow
• Kvack = Duck
• Hoo hoo = Owl
• Kuckeli kuu = Rooster
• Kväk = Frog

Meeting Forigen Language Speakers Online

It's easy to start a conversation with people on Livemocha

I have mentioned the language learning site Livemocha before. There you can practice learning another language and have other native speakers grade your work. Higher level courses cost money. However, the biggest benefit of the site is the that you can start up a conversation with almost anyone who is trying to learn English, or the language you are trying to learn. People are there to learn and practice so anything from a simple "How are you?" or "What's up?" works! You can message people or even chat in real time. Furthermore the site is always suggesting new "friends", and once you have "friended" someone you can help each other on correcting each other's submissions and so forth. The website seems to have a large Portuguese speaking population from Brazil, so if you are inclined to learn some Portuguese or meet Brazilians under the guise of teaching them English, this site might work for you.

Okcupid

In my attempts to meet new people I tried out using Okcupid as a means to find German speakers. The site actually has a search function that will let you search for people based on what language they speak, among other things. 

From what I have noticed, messaging people in another language that you both speak nets you better results than just messaging them in English. However, searching for people in the particular language where that language is spoken will yield you much fewer results. Perhaps it is because these people have the premonition that they are there to meet other people through the site. But hey, you could do a lot worse with your time online then not socializing.

If you are self conscious about creating a dating site profile because people you know might see you (in the process of looking for partners I found one of my TAs as well as a fellow students who was looking for casual sex) you can always say at the top of your profile page that you're only interested in talking with, or possibly meeting people who speak the language you are trying to learn. Your profile can also say that you are in a relationship or seeing someone. Of course if you are seeing someone, it wouldn't hurt to let your significant other know what your intentions on the site are.