What colour is the letter “a”?

This question will make sense if, like me, you have synaesthesia. For me, the letter “a” is yellow – always has been, always will be. No matter what colour script I’m reading, my mind’s eye always sees “a” as yellow. And every other letter has its very own colour, every other number too. They’re very precise shades, and they never change. I didn’t choose them, either – they were just there in my mind when I learned to read.

Synaesthesia is a mingling of the senses which affects around 1 in 20 people, more women than men. For me, it means I can also “see” sounds and music in my mind’s eye.

What does all of this mean for me as a translator and proofreader? Well, I’ve always found it easy to memorise new words – and not just in my mother tongue. When I proofread, spelling mistakes jump out at me – because the colours look all wrong. When interpreting, I can see what I hear written out before me in my mind. And I even used my synaesthesia to hack my own brain while learning the Arabic alphabet. Only very rarely does the condition not help me – for example,  I actually see all the letters in the word “red” as varying shades of green!

I know of a handful of other linguists with synaesthesia, but I’d be interested to know if there are any others out there! Do you see letters in colour? How does your synaesthesia help or hinder you?