{"id":7031,"date":"2025-08-04T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durch-die-haut.de\/?p=7031"},"modified":"2025-10-28T10:59:49","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T09:59:49","slug":"showing-your-true-colors-why-not-every-language-says-blue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durch-die-haut.de\/en\/showing-your-true-colors-why-not-every-language-says-blue\/","title":{"rendered":"Showing your true colors: Why not every language says \u201cblue\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Many
Many colorful Smarties<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nImagine explaining to someone from another culture that the sky is blue\u2014and they look at you as if you had just claimed that the sky is made of cheese. Welcome to the wonderful world of color words!\r\n\r\nColors are not universal \u2013 they are cultural<\/strong>\r\n\r\nColors are everywhere \u2013 but not every language sees them the same way. While we easily distinguish between \u201cblue,\u201d \u201cgreen,\u201d and \u201cturquoise\u201d in English, there are languages that have only one word for all of them. Others, on the other hand, make distinctions that would never occur to us.\r\nWant an example? In Japan, there is the word \u201cao,\u201d which was traditionally used for both blue and green. Traffic lights? The green phase is often referred to as \u201cao shing\u014d\u201d \u2013 meaning \u201cblue light.\u201d Sounds confusing? It is. But it shows that colors are not just what we see \u2013 they are also what we say.\r\n\r\nAnd it gets even more exciting: there are millions of different wavelengths \u2013 but of course not the corresponding number of color names.\r\n\r\nSo our language filters what we name \u2013 and thus also what we consciously perceive.\r\n\r\nHow many colors do humans need?<\/strong>\r\n\r\nLinguists<\/a> have asked themselves: is there a system behind color words? The answer: yes, and it’s pretty clever.\r\nThe famous theory by Berlin and Kay (1969)<\/strong> states that languages develop color words in a specific order:\r\n
    \r\n \t
  1. Black & white (or dark & light)<\/li>\r\n \t
  2. Red<\/li>\r\n \t
  3. Green or yellow<\/li>\r\n \t
  4. Blue<\/li>\r\n \t
  5. Brown<\/li>\r\n \t
  6. After that: purple, pink, orange, gray, etc.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\nThis means<\/strong> that if a language only has three color words, they are almost certainly black, white, and red. Why red? Because it stands out\u2014blood, berries, sunsets. Red is evolutionarily important.\r\n\r\nAnd today? Berlin & Kay’s theory is still being discussed\u2014it is considered a milestone in linguistic research, even though modern studies show that cultural influences are stronger than originally thought. Nevertheless, their basic idea remains fascinating: language structures our perception.\r\n\r\nColors are more than words<\/strong>\r\n\r\nColors influence how we think, feel, and act. In Western cultures, green often stands for \u201cgo,\u201d nature, safety. In other cultures, however, it can also be associated with illness or death. Gray seems neutral or serious to us \u2013 in China, it can symbolize mourning. And red? It can mean anything from love to danger to happiness \u2013 depending on where you are.\r\n\r\nAnd what about LTS?<\/strong>\r\n\r\nNow we’re getting specific: the colors red, green, and gray are not only culturally<\/a> interesting \u2013 they are also the colors of LTS. And that fits perfectly:\r\n