We were taught that we humans have a general agreement on color but would it be wrong to admit that some people see colors in a more vibrant way?
Cultural relativism begins to explore this theory, stating that basic perceptual experiences, color, may be determined in part by the cultural relativism. (Wolfe)
I personally found this to be especially interesting and true because i grew up in New York but spent my summers in Greece. I was exposed to two different languages and therefore exposed to two different color perceptions. Although english has many words to describe the color blue, i typically am accustomed to describing things like the sky, the ocean, eye color, etc, as blue unless asked to specify for a certain reason.
Spending my summers in Greece, whatever word i used really depended on whether the person i was talking to understood me regarding color. For example: There is a general term for blue, μπλε, and there is a specific term for describing someone with blue eyes as having γαλανά μάτια or the blue sky as ουρανός γαλανός. “γαλανό” can be compared to an azure blue, but you really never hear anyone specifying that in the english language. If i am referring to the color of the blue sea in Greek, i would call it γαλάζια θάλασσα. (oddly enough, the term for describing the sky and sea may be interchangeable depending on how you were taught Greek) The point is, compared to a non greek speaker, i might perceive shades of blue differently and with more precision than that of a non greek speaker.
Being that i am more fluent in english than i am in greek, i dont necessarily not understand people when they refer to something as blue, but i am more specific when it comes to picking out colors. This may not mean much to some people, but considering i’m pursuing a career where colors are important to a design, i’m thankful for growing up in a bilingual household.
Wolfe, Jeremy M., Keith R. Kleunder, and Dennis M. Levi. “Sensation & Perception: Eye Structure.” Sensation & Perception: Eye Structure. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.
I find your blog post very interesting especially after I read an article about how the English language should adopt words of other cultures that express situations we experience perfectly. In other words, the English language doesn’t have the right words to describe what is actually happening.
Although this has to deal with vocabulary and not color I think the discrepancy further proves what cultural relativism is all about. For example, in the English language we sometimes don’t have words to describe feelings that happen in certain situations. Like locking eyes with someone across the room and feeling that magnetic chemistry. However in the Yagan language the word, “Mamihlapinatapei” is that exact feeling you get. Cultural relativism is very interesting in that some concepts are emphasized more than others even though most cultures have many similarities.
http://sobadsogood.com/2014/03/04/18-useful-foreign-words-the-english-language-needs-to-steal/