So what's a dog say in Spanish? The vocabulary you never knew you needed.

The part of my Spanish life that most amuses my Spanish friends is the dreaded black vocabulary hole - that mortifying moment when I suddenly realize I simply do not have a word. Or a clue to what the right word might be might be. I'll be sailing along a mile a minute in Spanish while I head upstairs to borrow a tool from a neighbor, til it hits me. At the door. I've never talked about tools. What will I ask for? Hand signals and long verb-laden descriptions work wonders. (Es algo para…)

About a year ago I sat down and learned my trees (You have a what in your yard?); just last week I ran into a brick wall telling a very funny story about a car with manual transmission. The story wasn't so funny in Spanish, although by the end, my hand signals had earned me all the vocabulary I will ever need to talk about auto transmissions.

So, if you find yourself reading a Spanish comic book, or worse yet, having a conversation with a tiny Spaniard, will you know what the doggy says? The rooster?

Here's an amusing site that lists common words for animal sounds - in 17 languages.

Spanish dogs say guau, by the way. Donkeys express themselves with iha iha, and roosters…I'll leave you to find that one on your own.