How language and culture changes your colour perception

[Brandon]

 

[carlos]

Thanks, Brandon. This is a very interesting subject.

 

Some years ago I was very impressed by a book that was centered on that question. It's titled "Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages" by Guy Deutscher. It explains lots of fascinating details, not only about color but also other aspects only some languages have. For example, in Spanish or French you forcefully have to express the gender of things. If you say in English "I met a neighbor last night" nobody knows if that neighbor was a man or a woman, but in Spanish you are forced to give that information, since the word for male neighbor is different than the word for female neighbor. (Of course you could use some elaborated way to avoid revealing that, such as "I met a person who lives in the same building, but that's not natural.)

 

Another interesting aspect is evidentiality. In some languages when you make a statement you need to express to what degree you are certain that information is true. You use a different construction if you are telling something you witnessed yourself than if you heard it or deduced it or read it somewhere.

 

[M.J.]

Some languages have very precise words,  along with a variety of words.  This allows your brain to then think in those terms. But what happens when your language doesn't have this abundance of variety? Does it cause our thinking processes, or our ability of expression to be limited?

[hatcheckgirl]

6 hours ago, M.J. said:

Some languages have very precise words,  along with a variety of words.  This allows your brain to then think in those terms. But what happens when your language doesn't have this abundance of variety? Does it cause our thinking processes, or our ability of expression to be limited?

I don’t have the “scientific” answer to that, but in my own experience of growing up with three languages, I found that my language skills were enhanced. Somehow our learning is amplified when we grow up with another language. I know other children who only had English speaking parents did struggle with new vocabulary, for instance, at school. Because it becomes intuitive, I could fluidly transfer my thoughts into a more descriptive language when I needed. It becomes an intrinsic part of how I think. So, I think that put me at an advantage to some extent compared to mono-lingual students.

[Raven]

Color is pretty crazy in the English language too, which is reflected a bit in the video. In the video, light red is called "pink", yet then he shows the word "pink" colored in an entirely different color than light red, that color being "magenta" ~ despite the fact that no matter how dark the color magenta gets, it never turns into red. Many native English speakers see light red and magenta as the same color, so use the word "pink" to describe both colors equally. Dark magenta, on the other hand, is not viewed as "pink" at all, but seen as an entirely different color, "Tyrian purple" (actually, dark magenta is called different names as well). "Tyrian purple" makes sense, as another name for magenta as a color happens to be "purple", but probably not the purple you are thinking of if you are reading this...When native English speakers think of purple, they typically envision violet, which is more commonly thought of as "purple" than magenta (even dark magenta). That being said, a very specific shade of dark blue mixed with violet has its own word in the English language, and that is "indigo".

Not only that, but there's a primary color that doesn't even seem to exist for many native English speakers, which is "cyan". If you point to an object that is colored cyan and ask random native English speakers what color it is, you might be surprised how many will think it is "blue", or conversely think it is "green". Even the word "cyan" is not so commonly known, or taught in schools for that matter, but terms for shades of cyan are much more recognizable, such as "aqua", "teal", and "turquois".

[Sister Twister]

On 11/25/2020 at 2:44 PM, carlos said:

 

Another interesting aspect is evidentiality. In some languages when you make a statement you need to express to what degree you are certain that information is true. You use a different construction if you are telling something you witnessed yourself than if you heard it or deduced it or read it somewhere.

 

This is really interesting much more expressive then English

[Sister Twister]

This is an absolutely fascinating subject , I remember reading something about this before great to discuss.

 

 

 

[Sister Twister]

On 11/25/2020 at 4:10 PM, M.J. said:

Some languages have very precise words,  along with a variety of words.  This allows your brain to then think in those terms. But what happens when your language doesn't have this abundance of variety? Does it cause our thinking processes, or our ability of expression to be limited?

interesting thought

[coony77]

Languages are soooooo interesting....I am Greek - but not "acient"

- probably that´s why I know the word "blue"...

 

But I can´t agree to the video´s statement that "Blue" isn´t mentioned in the bible.

In Exodus it is mentioned several times, also in Ezekiel...