In Chinese comics, sound effects are represented by onomatopoeic characters, which are Chinese characters that imitate or resemble the sound being depicted. Onomatopoeic characters are usually used in combination with other characters to create a visual representation of the sound effect.
One way to write sound effects in Chinese comics is to use characters that are phonetically similar to the sound being depicted. For example, the sound of a knock on a door might be represented by the characters “咚咚”, which are pronounced “dong dong” and sound similar to the knocking sound. Similarly, the sound of a sneeze might be represented by the characters “喷嚏”, which are pronounced “pen ti” and imitate the sound of a sneeze.
Another way to write sound effects in Chinese comics is to use characters that have a similar meaning to the sound being depicted. For example, the sound of a thunderstorm might be represented by the characters “轰隆”, which mean “boom” and “rumble” and convey the sense of the loud, crashing sound of thunder. Similarly, the sound of a steam engine might be represented by the characters “嘶嘶”, which mean “hiss” and imitate the sound of steam escaping from a train.
There is no fixed set of rules for writing sound effects in Chinese comics, and different artists and authors may use different onomatopoeic characters to represent the same sound effect. However, there are some commonly used onomatopoeic characters that are widely recognized and understood by readers of Chinese comics.
Sources:
- “Chinese Onomatopoeia – The Secret to Understanding Chinese Sound Effects” by Du Chinese
- “The use of onomatopoeic words in Chinese” by Meng Zhang
