This article discusses the reflection of modes of perception in the linguistic images of the world on the example of two languages – Romanian and Russian. The author points to the partial coincidence of the linguistic pictures of the world and their causes, and also emphasizes that the existing discrepancies underlie their national-cultural identity. In the process of analyzing the characteristics of the attributes associated with the modes of perception, attention is drawn to the development of figurative meanings in both languages. Most of them are axiologically significant. With differential semantic features such words allow us to create many figurative phrases. The results of the transfer on the basis of one or another perceptual mode in the verbal manifestations of various structures in the Romanian and Russian languages may coincide, but they may also diverge. According to our observations, differences appear when: a) the basis of the transfer are various modes of perception: глухое окно – fereastră oarbă (blind window); b) the transfer was based on the characteristics of the same mode, but differently understood: белая ночь – noapte albă (sleepless night); c) there is no metaphorical correspondence of the type in question: черное дело – faptă criminală (the criminal act). In addition to semantic analysis, a number of results of a free associative experiment are presented.