
Some days ago, I read a text from a good friend, in which months of the year were identified with different colours. I thought it was a good description of the evocative possibilities of the words in a story, a narrative, a story.
But also, it made me think a little further. In fact, the colours who can define every month they depend on several factors. Probably, the most significant colours have some connotations with geography, culture and language. For example, the month of March can be defined in a different colour in places like Cadiz in Andalusia, Malmo in Sweden, or Paris, or Barcelona or Budapest. In some places, March marks the beginning of spring and in others, the end of the winter.
This reality must be considered when doing intergenerational and intercultural activities. The use of certain verbal images or metaphors in the story, must be clarified often when explaining the same story, without breaking the internal rhythm of the story. And it is not always an easy job.
The linguistic confusion or misunderstandings are possible even when sharing the same language. There are different dialectal forms and some expressions in territorial or geographical origin, there are also different sociolects that deal with social origin, but in the same way must be considered generational differences in the everyday language.
Some expressions, phrases, words may change their meaning according to the age of the speaker. In fact, every social group or every age group have as the background, cultural references modulated in a different way: the different use of the media, new technologies, etc. are reflected in the language and in the use of different language resources.
Seen on paper, everything can seem very complicated. But at practice, it is not so. Just we need to pay attention to the logical records of each story, each scene, each narrative situation and to place them in the context. And, if there is some dialogue in the story, the different uses of each character involved must be respected.
Both, in life and in stories, colours are necessary and essential. From its right mixture and a dry combination as accurate as possible, it will also depend on the beauty of the story.
Joan