I Love to Listen to People Talk
Over time, I have spoken or heard many languages in places I have lived and traveled- English, German, Swiss German (Yes, it's different!), French, Italian, Russian, Swahili, Spanish. I have always adored Languages.
French, Maasai, Persian in particular have a lilting quality, they float in the air.
French is a pinkish-orchid. Most of the time, it blows in the air, like silken cloth blowing in the breeze.
Persian is thicker, but still lilts. It’s a yellowy- orange color with heavier edges.
Maasai is one of my favorites. Like African music, it’s a mix of colors, but not one note here and another there. Mainly purple I guess, but like a quilt of vibrant colors. It flows… and there is also like a moving horizontal line of lightning that continues along about mid-line as the conversation continues. When there is an exclamation, it’s often a flash of white.
In the United States alone, there are a huge range of dialects around the country that are quite different.
Think of an American accent from Los Angeles, Boston, and Louisiana (especially Cajun), and you will know what I mean. But not only do they have their own sound, they have their own texture, flavor, and color!
To me, Southern California accents are pastel. Plain with no real color. It’s not meant as a judgement as good or bad, it just is what it is. I think it’s because to me it’s a baseline. But maybe not, because that doesn’t seem to be how colored hearing works. Boston is Red with yellow and sharp edges that kind of drop off dramatically.
Cajun is bright fuschia and spicy! You honestly could not convince me you don’t see it this way. It’s one of the things that as I puzzle out what is a Synesthete thing and is not, you just can’t convince me of! How can you not hear a Cajun person speak and go, Wow! Check that out- as you see the colors dance in the air, you need to take a sip of something because it’s so tabasco-like and peppery! With all the accents, there are some variations, of course. Cajun is fuschia, for example- but there are some other colors mixed in based on the tone of the voice. It’s like a painting, you mix a little bit of another color in so it’s not too flat.
Language, color, music- everything has so many layers, and they all make the world such a marvelous place. Since I was a kid, I have wanted to travel and experience all of it. Every part of the world has so much history and culture to experience, I don’t know how anyone could ever be bored.
I’m glad I finally discovered that others don’t see the world the way I do. I’ll keep trying to share these things with you.