Many years ago, my father started collecting "Beware of the Dog" signs in various languages to stick on our gate. The collection went on growing even after his death, and has recently been helped by viewers of this page, as well as a discussion on the UniLang site (many of the alternatives given in [square brackets] came this way). Here is a list of the signs / versions we have amassed so far, arranged in approximate language / geographical groups. With some of them we've unfortunately forgotten what language they are in, so please let us know (see link at bottom) if you spot any mistakes, or if you can supply any other translations! (For languages which use non-English alphabets, a small GIF file accompanied by Unicode text if available would probably be best -- or even something by snail mail. A real "Beware of the Dog" sign -- or local equivalent -- would be best of all, of course.)
| English | Beware of the Dog | |
| Welsh | Gwiliwch y ci | |
| Irish |
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| French | Attention, chien mechant [Attention au chien] | |
| Spanish (Castilian) | Cuidado con el perro [Peligro perro] | |
| Catalan | Compte amb el gos! | |
| Galician | Coidado co can | |
| Portuguese | Cuidado com o cão | |
| Italian | Attenti al cane | |
| Rumanian (communist era spelling) | Atentie la cîine rau | |
| Rumanian (modern) | Atenţie la câine rău | |
| Romansch (Sursilvan) | Adatg dil tgaun, prighel da miersas | |
| German | Vorsicht, bissiger hund | |
| Dutch | Geen toegang loslopende honden [Kijk uit voor de hond] | |
| Latin | Cave canem | |
| Greek (modern) | ΠΡΟΣΟΧΗ ΣΚΥΑΟΣ [Προσοχή, σκύλος (prosochí, skýlos)] | |
| Danish | [Pas på] Hund [Pas på hunden] | |
| Norwegian | Hunden biter [Vokt Dem for hunden] | |
| Faroese | Ansið eftir hundinum | |
| Icelandic | Varúð, hundur [Passið ykkur á hundinum] | |
| Swedish | Varning för hunden | |
| Finnish | Varokaa / Varo Koiraa [Varokaa vihaista koiraa] | |
| Basque | Kontuz txakurrarekin | |
| Hungarian | Vigyázz a kutya harap [Vigyázat, harapós kutya] | |
| Bulgarian | Внимание, зло куче (Vnimanie, zlo kuche) | |
| Russian | Осторожне в собака [Осторожно, злая собака] | |
| Slovak | Pozor [pes] | |
| Czech | Pozor zlý pes | |
| Polish | Uwaga pies [Uwaga, zły pies] | |
| Lithuanian | Piktas šuo [Saugokis šuns] | |
| Latvian | Nikns suns [there's a whole site about Latvian 'Nikn suns' signs!] | |
| Estonian | Ettevaatust, kuri koer | |
| Serbian | Чувај се пса (Čuvaj se psa) | |
| Turkish | Dikkat! Köpek var | |
| Arabic | [Awaiting transcription] | |
| Hebrew (modern) | !זהירות כלב נושד [!זהירות, כלב (zeyrut kelev / zɛhi'ʁut, 'kɛlɛv)] | |
| Israeli | [Awaiting transcription] | |
| Swahili | Mbwa mrata | |
| Chewa | Chenjelani ndi agalu | |
| Chitumbuka? | Chenjerani ndi nchewe | |
| Twi? | Hwe wo ho yiyo wo okraman no ho | |
| Shona | Chenjera imbwa | |
| Wasa | Fali uqayo | |
| Zulu | [Awaiting image]: qapela inja | |
| Setswana | Tsaba nche / Tsaba ntša | |
| Afrikaans / Sotho | Pas op / Bhasobha | |
| Thai | ระวังหมาดุ (ra/wang-maa~du\) | |
| Tamil | [Awaiting transcription] | |
| Telugu | [Awaiting transcription] | |
| Malayalam | [Awaiting transcription] | |
| Malay | Awas anjing garang | |
| Vietnamese | Coi chừng chó dữ / Nhà có chó dữ | |
| Lao | ລະວັງໝາຮ້າຍ (la-wang-maa~haai^) | |
| Chinese (traditional: Taiwan etc.) | 堤防惡犬 | |
| Chinese (simplified: PRC etc.) | 内有恶犬 [小心犬只] | |
| Japanese | 犬にご注意ねがいます (inu ni gochūi negaimasu) [猛犬注意 (mōken chūi)] | |
| Lakota (Sioux) | Šunka lekito | |
| N'dee (Apache) | Goshe daagonoldza | |
| Cree | Asweyim atim | |
| Ojibwe? | pah tuug - hu ni moosh | |
| Runes | | |
| Australian | | |
| Reo Māori | Kiwa rā o te kurī | |
| Miscellaneous |
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Polyglot wombats and other cunning linguists
Large collection of Latvian 'Beware of the Dog' signs
This page produced by Ben Jones.