Dogs’ Brains Can Tell Spanish From Hungarian, Study Finds

Postdoctoral researcher Laura V. Cuaya talks to her dog Kun-kun, an 8-year-old Border Collie, at the Ethology Department of the Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest, Hungary, on Jan. 5, 2022. Bernadett Szabo/Reuters

BUDAPEST—Dogs can distinguish between languages, researchers in Hungary found, after playing excerpts from the story “The Little Prince” in Spanish and Hungarian to a group of 18 canines and examining how their brains reacted.

The study was led by Laura V. Cuaya at Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest, who moved to the city from Mexico a few years ago, bringing her dog Kun-kun with her.