The Language of Pictures

You might wonder what I mean with today's headline. Pictures are, well, pictures, not any language. They usually don't contain words, or letters; instead, they contain colours, scenery, signs, expressions, ....

Pictures talk to us. They do it in a universal language, not restricted by usual language boundaries. There are even "dictionaries" for travellers which contain pictures of important things like food, body parts etc instead of words translated into another language. These picture dictionaries
can be used in whatever country you might find yourself. All you have to do is to point at the picture you mean to be understood. And, well, maybe a bit of improvised sign language or theatre play....

Pictures are an integral part of picture books for younger children as well. Just imagine a picture book story without the illustrations...something will be missing. Illustrations help tell the story. They can convey emotions, show without need for long descriptions, and can keep the young readers'/listeners' attention much better than text alone.

Make the test: Pick a picture--illustration, painting, photo--of your choice and look at it. What do you feel, and think? What emotions are conveyed? Memories sparkled? Sometimes, a picture can say much more than a thousand words, and most of the time, the same picture says different things to different people--just like the same sentence might have a different meaning to different people....