“BlueGrass”

One of the cool things about learning a language is that a person doesn’t just learn how to speak like someone else, but also how to see like someone else.

Take the concept of colours, for example.

It seems that here in the village there are only 5 words for colours:

... Black (which includes black hair, brown skin, and brown wood)

... White (which includes pale pink and sky blue)

...  Red

... Yellow (which includes orange and my hair, which I’d call brown)

...Blue (which includes green leaves & grass).

One day some kids were telling us that in addition to the small red parrots that many boys here keep as pets, there are also blue parrots in the area. “Blue like this?” asked Vanny, pointing out a dark blue object.

          “No, not like that.”

          “Blue like the grass?” she tried again.

          “Yes, blue like the grass.”

Ah, that kind of blue. Now we understood. :)

I’ve heard over and over that language and culture are intertwined and that language can’t be learned in isolation from culture... I guess this matter of colour is a simple example of that truth.