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How to Laugh Online in Other Languages

Megan Garber

How to Laugh Online in Other Languages

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Megan Garber f or T he Atlantic Dec 12, 2012 Imagine you and I are chatting somewhere and sometime on the Internet. Imagine that, in the course of our conversation, I and this may require some extra imagination say something utterly, awesomely hilarious. Something like this. Or like this. Or this. Or this. How would you respond? You could say the obvious thing: "T hat is utterly, awesomely hilarious." Most likely, though, you would say something else, something that better ref lects a more natural response to hilarity. Something like "LOL." Or ":-)" Or "ha." Or, if my hilarity is a little more hilarious than usual, "haha." Or, if my hilarity is a little less hilarious than usual, "heh." If I my hilarity is slightly ironic, "hehe." Or, if my hilarity is slightly impish, "teehee." And if my hilarity is excessively hilarious in a way that requires some excessive laughter: "hahahaha." Or "haaaaaaaaaaaahaha." Or "hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha." But, so many hahas, you get the idea: You'd f ind a way, basically, to convey through textual means the

uncontrollable laughter. What if we weren't speaking English? What if we were chatting in Spanish, or Mandarin or Japanese? In an amazing Reddit thread this morning, redditors f rom non-English-speaking countries have been weighing in on a very good question: "What is internet culture like in your f irst language?" And the most-upvoted answers, awesomely and tellingly, have f ocused on laughter. Laughter rendered in letters and numbers and characters laughter that transcends language but also, online, utterly relies on it. So, how do you laugh on the Internet, in other languages? Here haaaaaaaaaahahaha is a starting guide: T hai: 55555 In T hai, the number f ive is pronounced "ha" so instead of saying "hahahahaha," T hai speakers will sometimes write "55555." Japanese: www T his abbreviation, not to be conf used (which is to say, of ten to be conf used) with the one f or the World Wide Web, likely originates with the Kanji character f or "laugh," , which is pronounced as "warai" in Japanese. "Warai," in message boards and chat rooms, quickly became shortened to "w" as an indication of laughter. And then, much the same way "ha" begat "haha" begat "hahaha," the sentiment became extended to "ww" and then "www" (and also, if you're so inclined, to "wwwwwww"). Chinese (Mandarin): or T hough laughter is written and pronounced xio shng, Mandarin also relies on onomatopoeia f or laughter: , pronounced h h, and , pronounced he he. Similarly, xixi, , suggests giggling. Interestingly, the number f ive, in Mandarin, is pronounced as "wu" meaning that T hai's "55555" would, in Chinese, be prounounced "wuwuwuwuwu." T his is the sound equivalent, a Chinese-speaking redditor points out, of "boohoo" meaning that laughter in one language is crying in another. Similarly, since the number 8 is pronounced "ba," Chinese speakers sometimes use "88" to sign of f , or say "ba ba" ("bye bye"). Along those lines, should you want to reward someone you're chatting with not just with laughter, but with actual praise: 8888888888 in Japanese represents applause, since (eight) is pronounced "hachi," which sounds like "pachi pachi," which is onomatopoeia f or clapping. Korean: kkkkk or kekekekeke T his comes f rom , short f or , or keu keu keu the Korean equivalent of the English "hahaha." French: hahaha, hhh, hihihi, hohoho; also MDR French uses onomatopoeic laughter variations much like those in English. It also, like many non-English languages, uses the universalized "LOL" to indicate laughter. But French also has a more delightf ul acronym: T he French equivelant of LOL is MDR, which means "mort de rire" or "dying of laughter." Spanish: jajaja In Spanish, j is pronounced like the English h, so "jajaja" is the direct analog of the English "hahaha." Greek: xaxaxa Same deal. Hebrew: x x x or Same. Brazilian Portuguese: huehuehue, rsrsrsrs Same as English, with the vowels varying rather than the consonants.

Dutch: ha ha, hi hi, h h, ho ho, ti hi Same deal. Icelandic: haha, hehe, hh Same. Russian: haha , hihi , hh Same. What's your f avorite way to laugh online? Share it with us in the comments below. Hat tip and 55555 to Chris Heller; Mashable composite image, original photo courtesy of Flickr, charbel.akhras T his article originally published at T he Atlantic here Topics: f oreign language, lol, reddit, Watercooler, World

The Atlantic
T he Atlantic is a Mashable publishing partner that is a multimedia f orum on the most-critical issues of our times, f rom politics, business, urban af f airs, and the economy, to technology, arts, and culture. T his article is reprinted with the publisher's permission.