i'd use a hash myself. but you are right in thinking a nested data structure would be a good fit here.

%colors =(
                english=>[qw/red blue yellow/],
                spanish=>[qw/rojo azul amarillo/]
);

$lang = 'spanish';
print $colors{$lang}[0];
[download]

alternatively you could key by some color constant, then by language:

%colors =(
                'FF0000'=> {
                           english=>'red',
                           spanish=>'rojo'
                         },
                '0000FF'=> {
                           english=>'blue',
                           spanish=>'azul'
                         
                          }
);

$color = 'FF0000';
$language = 'spanish';

print $colors{$color}{$language};
[download]