Colors and shapes of languages - the synesthesia of languages

Hi guys, how are you doing? 😃

I wanna talk about the colors of the wind today.

Joke.

I am a synesthetic person, don't really know what's the English offical name for that. Synesthetist? Tell me.

So first let me tell you what synesthesia is. It's a thing (I don't know how to call it, but it's not a disorder or sickness), which in practice lets you conjoin few senses - you can see sounds, see smells, hear something that noone else can hear. For example I see the words, names, numbers as colors or the sounds as lines in different shapes.

I even made a video about it a few years ago. It's Polish so I don't know if you will be willing to watch it.

Anyway. I was slowly falling asleep when I started wondering about my love for languages and how I actually perceive them. I can always distinguish between languages, even when they have very similar or downright the same words. And it comes very easy for me to learn them.

And I actually imagined my three favourite languages - German (which in my head is brown), English (blue) and Esperanto (green). And of course, my native language, Polish (red).

Sorry for my poor visualisation examples :P

Esperanto

I don't know to what extent it's connected with the established rule or the flag color - but Esperanto is totally green for me ever since I've heard of it. Even before I learned that the flag is green, and the color itself is connected with the symbol of hope. The word "Esperanto" looks green to me. Beautiful, fresh green, connected with freedom and peace. But the Esperanto words do not seem green to me, they are rather yellowish and (well, not talking about colors but shapes too) pretty sharp (not soft much). There are a lot of free bits floating around which represent the stems out of which the words can be created. Just grab one bit and connect it to the other - bam - a meaningful word (sana + mal = malsana). I see the language seems quite plain, and that goes well with how I perceive it - easy, no weird rules, no weird shapes. There is something sexy and cool in some words too 😃

English

This language is so full of everything to me. Kinda complicated but still full of sense. In my head it's blue (not the dark blue in the flag, but light blue, connected with purple a bit), its lines are full of flourishes, round shapes, it flows in my head like a river - no wonder it sounds so good along with music. Its structure, although full of weird dots that seem to escape in different directions from the main line, seem to have their own right to be and every little dot gives the language its specific functions and makes naming everything so easy and makes a lot of sense - after you get to know every single dot. One that masters this language is the master of understanding how the world works. That's why I love this language so much.

German

This language is perceived by people as an ugly one - for me it's pretty cute. The dark brown color resembles the chocolate. The "ch" sound is absolutely adorable in my opinion. There is nothing brown in the flag, so why the heck do I associate this language with this particular color? Anyway - the language has a nice structure (squares kinda symbolise the nice order in my head) plus I always had rather positive feelings towards Germany. Mostly because my family lives there. I was rather misunderstood in my highschool, being the only person who actually liked the German class - most of my classmates were stubborn and didn't even try learning the language - because of the history of WW2 and German occupation. They didn't want to be "Germanized". Well, I never wanted to think about the language in the context of history and war - I really like its sound and grammar. Well, back to the topic - German is brown and flows nicely, however I can sense some kind of brushy feeling in it, considering the "sch" sound. Something as the hair in a toothbrush. I don't know why, I don't know how, don't ask me. Also the way you use your throat a lot - the "r" sound or how you kinda gulp in between words - I perceive it as a weird slope, if you were a line moving forward, you would fall down for a second before going back up in few moments. So unique in my opinion. Wow, I didn't know I had so much to say about it.

Polish

That's my own language. I see it as red, which is a very bright color in my opinion - the language itself seems very vivid in my eyes. Speaking it sometimes feels either like stroking a cat, singing a song or going fast in a boat on the fast river. The words flow along with their meaning. Stół z powyłamywanymi nogami or Chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie - only the people who feel that flow can really say it. However, there is something sharp in it (just like in Esperanto). Maybe it's the strong "r" like in the word "ku*wa" gives that special power to it? It can be very soft on the other hand too (the word "dłoń" sounds so soft to me, "tęcza" is so sweet). I know that the language sounds really funny comparing to other Eastern European languages. I think it sounds much more vivid than Russian which sounds pretty lazy to me with their "bue, mue, blye". I'm not gonna talk about the grammar either, that's a different story. But Polish language has some spikes too, with all our consonants (sz, cz, dz, dź and so on). They really stab your soul when you say "chrząszcz" or "trzcina". But when you say them, the safisfaction is guatanteed.

It's late, I am done with pouring my soul to you now.

Please, share your opinions and like this post 😃

Bis Dann :)