Mapping How to Laugh Online in Different Languages
本文由 简悦 SimpRead 转码， 原文地址 preply.com
In this map of laughter around the world you will be able to see how haha is written in different cou......
But, what language uses the funniest onomatopoeia to write laughter on the internet? Have you ever wondered how laughter is written in other parts of the world and in other languages? Read on and learn how to crack up correctly in 26 different languages.
How to laugh online in 26 languages
1 - Thai: “55555” is the most curious graphic representation and the reason behind it is because the number 5 in Thai is pronounced “haa”. To laugh a lot you will see 55555555+(+) adding the “+” sign.
2 - Portuguese: In both Portugal and Brazil, laughter is written “kkkkk” but you will also find “rsrsrs” (abbreviation of “riso”, meaning “laughter”) and the ironic “rarara”.
3 - Turkish: "hahaha", "ahahah", "jsjsjsjs", "weqeqwqewqew" or, the funniest option, random letters like: "dksajdksajdoşad" (which is the most common) are used to laugh.
4 - Malay: because “ha” x 3 times equals “hahaha”, Malay speakers write “Ha3Ha3Ha3” or “Ha3”. They also write laughter the way an English speaker writes, like “haha” or “ha, ha”.
5 - English: the most typical way to transcribe laughter in English is “haha”. You will also see “hehe” for ironic laughter or “hihi” to convey a mischievous laughter. But on social networks it is very common to write “LOL” (Laughing Out Loud).
When you are cracking up it is written “LMAO” (laughing my ass off) and even more informally “LMFAO” (laughing my f*king ass off) which is the name of the famous musical group that made us dance with Sexy and I Know It. More politically correct is “ROFL”** (rolling on the floor laughing).
In Nigeria there is a variant which is "LWKM" and "LWKMD" which means "Laugh wan kill me" and "Laugh wan kill me die". And in Jamaica it is spelled “DWL” which stands for “dead wild laugh.”
6 - French: although you can read “héhé” /”hihi”/ “hoho”, the most common is “MDR” which means “Mort de Rire” (dead laughing). To raise the tone, French people use “PTDR” (Pété de Rire literally means “laughing farts”) and “XPTDR” (Extrêmement Pété de Rire, which means “extremely the above”). For an evil laugh you will see “mouhaha”.
7 - Mandarin Chinese: in mainland China they use the numbers 23333 to write laughter. In the Mandarin alphabet, the transcription of “haha” is 哈哈. It’s written “haha” when it’s transcribed into the Latin alphabet due to the influence of English. 呵呵呵呵 (hehe) when it's a mischievous laugh.
8 - Hindi: in the most widespread language of India men laugh with “haha” and women have a laugh with “hehe”.
A fascinating example that doesn't fall into any gender category is the "EK number", which roughly translates to "for me this is a number 1" ("EK" means "one" in Hindi). This is commonly used as a yes answer to a joke. If you find something funny, you can always write "haha" or "hehe" in India, but you can also show your enjoyment by replying "EK number".
9 - Bengali: It’s the second most spoken language in India and it laughs differently than Hindi. This is the transcription মজাই মজা, which sounds like “haha”.
10 - Urdu: In the Urdu language, which is the official language of Pakistan, "ha" is written as "ہا". So if you laugh more, you just add more. But they also write the way Pashto writes laughter: ‘ههههه، هاهاها = “hahahahaha”.
11 - Spanish: laughing is represented with “jajaja”. When you express irony, use “jejeje” and when you are more mischievous, “jijiji”.
12 - Arabic: standard Arabic is one of the most widespread languages in the world and yet there are no real native speakers because each country has its own dialect (e.g., Egypt, UAE, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia). However, they understand each other when they use the standard Arabic. Laughter is written هههههههههه and pronounced like our “hahaha”.
13 - Ukrainian: in Ukraine they write “ахахахах” for normal laughter. For sarcastic laughter, they use “азаза” written like this in Cyrillic characters.
14 - Russian: “лол” (LOL) is the most used in Russia as well as “axaxaxa” but until not long ago “бггггг” or “ггггг” (“bgggggg”, “ggggggg”) or even "ололo" (“ololo”) was used, although it seems that these last two forms have become somewhat outdated. In other Russian-speaking countries like Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan they still use “гггггг”.
15 - Indonesian: laughing is represented with “wkwk”, “wkwkwk”, “wakaka” and “xixi”. "wkwkwk" reportedly came into being because it was easier for users to type "k" rather than "h," which would require them to move their forefinger away from its placement on the keyboard. That’s why these onomatopoeias became popular.
16 - German: in addition to the usual “haha” and LOL, German speakers use asterisks for their laughing expressions “grins” (sometimes abbreviated as “g”) or “lach” which translates to “smile” and “laugh” .
17 - Japanese: “www” in Japan means not only World Wide Web but also the way Japanese represent laughter since laughter ("warau" / 笑う) and smile (“warai" / 笑い) begin with “w” in Japanese. In addition, in Japanese culture, the “W” resembles the emoticon of a lopsided face.
18 - Korean: the most frequent thing you can find in the Korean language is “k-k-k-k-k-k” when they write in the Latin alphabet. When written in Korean is ㅋㅋㅋ ("kkk") and ㅎㅎㅎ ("hhh").
19 - Vietnamese: “hihihi” is the most common although in literature, you will see "khà khà khà" (elderly laugh), "hê hê" (laughing proudly), "hì hì" (weak laugh), or "hô hô".
20 - Persian Farsi: خخخخخخخخ which is pronounced as “kha-kha-kha”.
21 - Italian: “ahahah” or “eheheh” because Italians do not have the strong aspirated “ha” sound.
22 - Polish: Polish teenagers use the funny word "Heheszki", which means "kicking and laughing", to express plain fun. But now they tend to use rather English words in the slang like “haha”.
23 – Scandinavian languages: Norwegian uses funny spelling like “Høhøhø” and “Hæhæhæ” in Denmark. In Sweden they use “asg” which is short for “asgarv” which means “intense laughter”.
24 – Greek: “lol” in Greek letters is "λολ". For a typical laughter, the Greeks use more "χαχα" (“xaxa”) which is “haha”. However, they prefer “χοχο” (“xoxo”) to express jokes or sarcastic laughter. But be careful, “xoxoxo” in Greek also means “hugs and kisses”, not “hahaha”!
A sneaky laugh would be “χεχε” (“çeçe”), a female laugh or giggle would be “χιχι” (“çiçi”), and an evil laugh would be “μπουχαχα” (“buxaxa”). There is also “χα0χα0χα0” which is used in trolling situations (e.g., when mocking; similar to when people use “huehuehue”).
25 - Lithuanian: “Cha Cha Cha”, which is not the dance, and it’s pronounced like “hahaha”.
26 – Estonian: “IRW”. In this other Baltic country, those three letters are actually an abbreviation of the Estonian verb "irvitamina", which means "to laugh in a special way" or "to smile".
After learning to laugh online in these 26 different languages, it is possible to identify a familiar sound when expressing laughter online. Maybe now you can have fun writing your laugh differently when texting your friend.