# Coughing Sound Effect (Lautmalerei/Onomatopoeia)



## scarfboymrreese

What is a good Coughing Sound Effect (Lautmalerei/Onomatopoeia) in German? 

Was ist ein guter Hustengeräuscheffekt auf Deutsch?


Hallo, I'm translating my English children's book into German, and I have a page where a monster is doing a variety of coughing/choking sounds.

Here's what it looks like in English:









I've been told on a different thread that "hust, hust" in German wouldn't really work as a good Lautmalerei/Onomatopoei. My question, then, is what is a good coughing sound Onomatopoeia in German? Like one they would use in comic books? 

Is "Cof Cof," "Kof Kof" or "Kaf Kaf" something that is von deutschsprachigen Menschen verwendet?

I ask, because I've also translated the book into Spanish (as I'm fluent in Spanish), and "Cof Cof" does work as a coughing sound in that language, and I believe I've seen it used in other languages.

For example:







Dankeschön!


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## scarfboymrreese

scarfboymrreese said:


> What is a good Coughing Sound Effect (Lautmalerei/Onomatopoeia) in German?
> 
> Was ist ein guter Hustengeräuscheffekt auf Deutsch?



I could also use some help with figuring out a gasping or hacking sound effect. 

Was ist ein Keuchen oder Atemnot Soundeffekt?


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## JClaudeK

scarfboymrreese said:


> Was ist ein Keuchen oder Atemnot Soundeffekt?


Einer davon ist "Keuch".





Edit: Siehe dazu


> Inflektiv
> Ein Inflektiv ist eine infinite und unflektierte Verbform, die im Deutschen durch deverbale Reduktion, d. h. durch Weglassen der Infinitivendung -n oder -en, gebildet wird (beispielsweise seufz von seufzen, purzel von purzeln).


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## Kajjo

I believe we should for all these questions of yours distinguish more clearly between Lautmalerei/Onomatopoeia and inflectives (Erikativ).

Lautmalerei: iiihhh, ohh, aua, ah <einzelne Laute als echte Lautmalerei>
Erikativ: seufz, klatsch, rülps <Verbstämme für Comic-Sprache>

German comics use a lot of inflectives, which are really easy to create: _hust, keuch, röchel _


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## scarfboymrreese

JClaudeK said:


> Einer davon ist "Keuch".
> 
> View attachment 56738
> 
> Edit: Siehe dazu



Besten Dank!


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## scarfboymrreese

Kajjo said:


> I believe we should for all these questions of yours distinguish more clearly between Lautmalerei/Onomatopoeia and inflectives (Erikativ).
> 
> Lautmalerei: iiihhh, ohh, aua, ah <einzelne Laute als echte Lautmalerei>
> Erikativ: seufz, klatsch, rülps <Verbstämme für Comic-Sprache>
> 
> German comics use a lot of inflectives, which are really easy to create: _hust, keuch, röchel _




That is good to know. So, it would be okay for me to use just the simple verb form in certain cases? Like "Hust! Keuch!" for "Cough! Gasp!," etc.?


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## Kajjo

scarfboymrreese said:


> Like "Hust! Keuch!" for "Cough! Gasp!," etc.?


Absolutely. The Erikativ is established Comic speech.


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## scarfboymrreese

Kajjo said:


> Absolutely. The Erikativ is established Comic speech.


Thanks again.


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## JClaudeK

Kajjo said:


> which are really easy to create: _hust, keuch, röchel _



Some more: schnauf, lechz, stöhn, ......  (edit: to render "gasp")


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## scarfboymrreese

JClaudeK said:


> Some more: schnauf, lechz, stöhn, ......



I appreciate it!


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## Hutschi

Only: "Keuch!" alone is not "husten" but for "Atemnot". It may be result of "husten", so that "Hust! Keuch!" might work, depending on context.


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## Hutschi

PS: I found some:
https://www.labbe.de/blog/Comicsprache (This shows lots of words.)

Lautmalerei: KCH, KCHHH = Husten
Erikativ: Hust! Keuch!


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## JClaudeK

Hutschi said:


> https://www.labbe.de/blog/Comicsprache (This shows lots of words.)


Darunter sind auch einige, die nicht wirklich Deutsch sind:  DOOSH im seichten Wasser waten, FIDDLE Geigenklänge, GIGGLE kichern, KNOCK an eine Tür klopfen, ...........


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## Hutschi

Hutschi said:


> Lautmalerei: KCH, KCHHH = Husten


Wie sieht es damit aus?


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## Hutschi

My wife told me some "Erikatives": (name is derived jokingly from the name of Erika Fuchs who translated many Micky Mouse books).

hust, hust!
keuch, keuch!
röchel, röchel!

This confirms 


Kajjo said:


> ...
> 
> German comics use a lot of inflectives, which are really easy to create: _hust, keuch, röchel _


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## scarfboymrreese

Hutschi said:


> PS: I found some:
> https://www.labbe.de/blog/Comicsprache (This shows lots of words.)
> 
> Lautmalerei: KCH, KCHHH = Husten
> Erikativ: Hust! Keuch!



I appreciate the link to the Comic Sound Effects! That will be invaluable for my other page translations, as well.

I'd actually been looking for a list like this one a few months ago. Instead, I had to searching individual panels from German Micky Maus and Uncle Scrooge comics. *shrug*


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## scarfboymrreese

Hutschi said:


> My wife told me some "Erikatives": (name is derived jokingly from the name of Erika Fuchs who translated many Micky Mouse books).
> 
> hust, hust!
> keuch, keuch!
> röchel, röchel!
> 
> This confirms



That's interesting. I was wondering about the origin of the term.


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## Kajjo

scarfboymrreese said:


> I'd actually been looking for a list like this one a few months ago.


Please note that a lot of items of this list are NOT German, but English. Don't fall for them (zzzz for example).



scarfboymrreese said:


> was wondering about the origin of the term.


Inflektiv – Wikipedia


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## Şafak

Kajjo said:


> Please note that a lot of items of this list are NOT German, but English. Don't fall for them (zzzz for example).


I think this one is pretty universal. I am not a big fan of comic books but I assume even in Russian comic books "zzz..." is used to picture someone sleeping. That being said, I don't think the list should be taken with a pinch of salt since there may well not be another way in the language to express the same action, so we are just left with the items enlisted there (or enlisted somewhere else). Nicht wahr?


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## Alemanita

Für das Schlaf-/Schnarchgeräusch "zzz..." glaube ich in deutschen Comics gesehen zu haben: "chrrrr..."


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## JClaudeK

Jennifer Weiss said:


> "zzz..." is used to picture someone sleeping.


"(b)zzz..." is more the noise  insects make, IMO.


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## Hutschi

I try to improve the list - but cannot do it publicly.


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## scarfboymrreese

Ich habe alle Ihre Vorschläge auf die Seiten in einem neuen Thread angewendet: 

Deutsche Rohentwurfsseiten zur Überprüfung - Monster Kinderbuch - German Rough Draft Pages for Review - Monster Children's Book  -


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## scarfboymrreese

Kajjo said:


> Please note that a lot of items of this list are NOT German, but English. Don't fall for them (zzzz for example).
> 
> 
> Inflektiv – Wikipedia





Şafak said:


> I think this one is pretty universal. I am not a big fan of comic books but I assume even in Russian comic books "zzz..." is used to picture someone sleeping. That being said, I don't think the list should be taken with a pinch of salt since there may well not be another way in the language to express the same action, so we are just left with the items enlisted there (or enlisted somewhere else). Nicht wahr?





Alemanita said:


> Für das Schlaf-/Schnarchgeräusch "zzz..." glaube ich in deutschen Comics gesehen zu haben: "chrrrr..."





JClaudeK said:


> "(b)zzz..." is more the noise  insects make, IMO.



Danke für die schlafenden Soundeffekte, Guys. Ich werde sie möglicherweise später verwenden.


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## Schlabberlatz

JClaudeK said:


> Some more: schnauf, lechz, stöhn, ......  (edit: to render "gasp")


LECHZ würde (zumindest im gegebenen Kontext) nicht passen.



> Einige von Feuerstein geschaffene, sogenannte Inflektive („lechz“, „würg“) wurden fester Bestandteil der Jugendsprache.
> Mad (Magazin) – Wikipedia



lechzen – Wiktionary


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