# Dreaming in a foreign language



## Abu Bishr

Hi Guys

I've been told by some people that the day you have a foreign language down solid is the day (or should I say "the night") that you dream in that language. Is it true? What are your impressions? Could it be that when you start dreamimg in the language that you are learning, it has actually moved from the plane of conscious control to the subconscious plane where the language starts coming naturally without thinking?


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## ameana7

It is really interesting but i don't agree with it because once in every year, for 15 days, i work as the guide of Venezuela in the children's festival in Turkey so during the day i'm only speaking in spanish. Understanding and solving the problems of children is a tough job and i'm not a proffesional guide and i have to force myself to think in Spanish. It effects me so much that in the nights, i see myself with children speaking in Spanish. Speaking like a native is really far away to me unfortunately..


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## pedro0001

You can dream that you speak in the other language, but if you are concious that you're speaking in the other language is because is not so integrated. I think the best way to know if you have integrated the foreing language is when you don't even notice anymore which language you are speaking/reading.


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## Sepia

During periods when my wife is studying Russian intensively she often speaks Russian in her sleep. Often her pronounciation was even better than when awake.


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## Alxmrphi

I only know basic Italian and I have had dreams, where at specific parts, people have said things, and then said things wrong, and I have corrected them, and I've no way solidly got the language down.


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## Sallyb36

My son tells me that I speak Spanish sometimes in my sleep, and sometimes when I wake up the first things I say to him are in Spanish.  I also sometimes open my mouth to speak to my English friends, and it comes out in Spanish.


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## Alxmrphi

I do that as well Sally, but it's usually only with one word, "forse" (Italian for "maybe") .. the other times I just VERY nearly come out with Italian.

In an Italian lesson last week, I said "oui" to the teacher, and I don't even speak French!!!! At all,  I don't speak any of it.

How weird is that?


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## ireney

I have no idea whatsoever at what language I dream I'm afraid. I don't tend to remember things like this. I agree with ameana thought. 

Having my boyfriend point out to me that the blank look on that old guy's face in the shop with religious icons (in Greece) was because I was talking to him in English doesn't mean that my English is as good as a native's. Just that I had been talking in English 24/7 for a while. (the point of this little story is that different reasons can lead to similar results).

I've heard that what you say the moment you wake up is considered another good indicator if you are woken up suddenly. 

For me this means one of two things:

a) phone rings. I swear in both English and Greek; The choice of word with which I curse at the person who phoned, the phone company, G. Bell  and the universe at large is a matter of pure chance.
b) someone wakes be up in person. Depending on the language they speak, I may swear in Greek, English, French or Italian (my German roomates got the English version). The "WHAT!?!?!" also comes in a variety of languages (no Italian this time). My French is pathetically poor I should add


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## panjabigator

I dont think you have to be fluent to dream in a language.  When I first started learning Hindi formally, I had dreams in it all the time.  And I never had dreamt in Hindi before.


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## Sallyb36

Very weird Alex!  I never remember my dreams ever


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## maxiogee

Sallyb36 said:


> Very weird Alex!  I never remember my dreams ever


How do you know?
If you have no memory of them, how do you know you have them?


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## Sallyb36

I don't, i just know that my partner or my son tell me when i've been talking in my sleep.


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## maxiogee

Sallyb36 said:


> I don't, i just know that my partner or my son tell me when i've been talking in my sleep.



And what language do you speak then?


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## Etcetera

ireney said:


> I have no idea whatsoever at what language I dream I'm afraid. I don't tend to remember things like this.


So do I. 
But it happened several times that I awoke and found myself thinking in English. It was rather weird... but so pleasant!


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## Sallyb36

maxiogee said:


> And what language do you speak then?



Sometimes Spanish, sometimes English.


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## Cereth

Sallyb36 said:


> My son tells me that I speak Spanish sometimes in my sleep, and sometimes when I wake up the first things I say to him are in Spanish. I also sometimes open my mouth to speak to my English friends, and it comes out in Spanish.


 

I agree Sally, it happens to me all the time too, sometimes I say things in japanese (short phrases) till my little brother stares at me and say with his angry tone: You spoke in japanese again! don´t speak Japanese in public!!


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## Sallyb36

Cereth said:


> I agree Sally, it happens to me all the time too, sometimes I say things in japanese (short phrases) till my little brother stares at me and say with his angry tone: You spoke in japanese again! don´t speak Japanese in public!!


Phew, I'm glad it's not just me!!


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## justjukka

I had a dream in German once.  It didn't make much sense.


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## Daddyo

I had a dream in Japanese once upon a time, where I challenged someone to a knife fight. Strangely enough, my dream came with subtitles because I don't speak Japanese. I know a few words here and there, so in order for me to follow my own dream, I had to read my own subtitles. But in the inside of the person I was in the dream, I still thought in English.
The other strange thing was that the fight wasn't with any knives I know how to use, but with pen-knives.
I need to go back to my therapist, I guess.


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## ElaineG

I felt a great sense of satisfaction the first time I had a dream in Italian.  But it wasn't really that I was fluent, yet, although it did mean that something significant had clicked.

I felt much more that I had _gotten_ it when I came back to the States for the first visit after several months away and found myself only thinking in Italian, and having to _translate my thoughts to English_ before opening my mouth in a social situation or in a store.  It only lasted a few days, and it was kind of disconcerting, but I knew my brain had turned the corner.

Sadly, since I've been home for good, with only brief visits to Italy, my brain is doing its best to back up around that corner.  Thank God for WRF!


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## rsweet

There have been times when I've been aware that French is in my dreams, but I think it was because I was in a stage of intense language concentration. Sometimes I'd wake up with French swimming around in my head, as if I were in a crowded room full of francophones! Have you ever had a period at work that's so intense you work in your sleep? That's what it felt like, sort of exhausting.

I did fall asleep watching _Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon_ once, and for a moment I was convinced I could understand Mandarin!


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## Pivra

I dream in English almost everynight without even having to translate.


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## Banana24

Well what about thinking in it? swedish is my original language, but im born and bred in New Zealand and thus my Swedish is slipping, unfortunately. A difference between my original fluency and now is that I never THINK in Swedish any more. I think that when you begin to THINK in another language, then you have fully grasped it.


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## Banana24

to add to what I said before, i think that concienciously thinking in a language causes it to rust less, even if you have no opportunity to make use of it.


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## cas29

I remember the first time I had a dream in Italian:  it was at the time of the World Cup in 1994, and I dreamt I was at the airport and met the Italian soccer team.  I wanted to talk to Roberto Baggio!  He spoke to me, I had NO IDEA what he said and I replied, (in Italian) I'm Canadian, I don't speak much Italian!. 

Now, (after 12 years) I dream in both languages but certainly less in Italian than in Enlgish.


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## TimeHP

Yes. Not often, but it occurred to me as well. 
I had dreams in English and in French, after having spoken a lot in one of these languages.
The problem: 
were my dreams grammatically correct? 

Ciao


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## Alxmrphi

I'm sure they weren't TimeHP Only what you know of the language, which, chances are, isn't 100% grammar.


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## Sepia

Daddyo said:


> I had a dream in Japanese once upon a time, where I challenged someone to a knife fight. Strangely enough, my dream came with subtitles because I don't speak Japanese. I know a few words here and there, so in order for me to follow my own dream, I had to read my own subtitles. But in the inside of the person I was in the dream, I still thought in English.
> The other strange thing was that the fight wasn't with any knives I know how to use, but with pen-knives.
> I need to go back to my therapist, I guess.


 
I can't tell if this is unusual, but it sounds familiar to me.  I had a similar dream. I was training a lot with Japanese and watched Kurosawa movies in original version with subtitles. At least once I had a dream where I spoke Japanese - including the subtitles. I only speak but a few words of Japanese


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