Why is it so hard to remember actual words?

[legendarymidget]

How come when I wake up and recall me dreams, I can never recall the actual words dream characters say. Eg: I had an embarrassing dream and a kind women said something along the lines of "Poor guy" or "I feel sorry for him." I can feel the message they intend to get across but I can't remember the actual words they said. Is this just me or does it happen to everyone?

[Maria92]

What you describe is pretty common. Happens to me all the time. When journaling, I'll write down something like "Character X said Y", when I really mean that they conveyed a similar message to what I claimed they said. If I insist on direct quotes, I'll make something up that sounds plausible, given the context and what I know of the message conveyed. Although I do that rarely, I think it adds just a tad bit immersion to my entries.

[Huhwhatsthat]

Same thing here, I see some DJs where people have huge conversations in their dreams, and I have no idea how they do it. Normally in my dreams, people don't really talk too much, and if they do, I only remember a few key words.

[rubies3]

SAME HERE, theres little to no dialogue in my dreams. If people say anything, i can't remember exact words, I can just remember the feelings they conveyed. Also, my ears never seem to work. I never remember lips moving either... I just KNOW they say things.

[kookyinc]

I think it's because we rarely ever remember verbatim what people say IRL, especially if we don't even think we'll need to recall it. It's the same as real life. What exactly did you all say in your last IRL conversation with someone? Tough to remember, yes? If you want to improve this recall, practice remembering IRL conversations better. I think. I just made that up, but it makes sense.

[rubies3]

wow, nice theory! that is so true, makes loads of sense, and i never thought about it o.o but yeah, its very hard for me to remember IRL convos too.

[Huhwhatsthat]

I think it's because we rarely ever remember verbatim what people say IRL, especially if we don't even think we'll need to recall it. It's the same as real life. What exactly did you all say in your last IRL conversation with someone? Tough to remember, yes? If you want to improve this recall, practice remembering IRL conversations better. I think. I just made that up, but it makes sense. Since this uses the same logic that training for dream recall does, I'm sure this would work.

[TahliaK]

I'm pretty lucky then, I normally remember convosations that happen in my dreams.

[your_mum]

totally can relate to this: i had a dream in which i spoke to a tree... dont remember anything it said...

[changed]

Maybe we don't have a language in our dreams. Maybe we just receive the concept of an idea, not exact words. This makes sense doesn't it(insert question mark here).

[dakotahnok]

Hmmm I'll do a little research on this, idk why this happens. I can remember conversations.

[etereo]

I am the same way most of the time its body motion but when the words come in I do remember most Maybe that Forte's that I am mostly action little words

[Lynn]

It happens to me, and I only remember the exact words, if it is the theme of the dream, or I was the one who said it numerous times. I do remember them speak in English, though. I think they speak our main language, most of the time.

[rubies3]

I've heard of people who speak fluent French, Spanish, and Japanese in their dreams, however. xD Weird. I can't even remember DCs moving their lips, usually. That's often because I don't get good images of their faces, though. I usually just sense that they are somebody, and that they said something. So there is little dialogue in my DJ because yeah, all I understand is the concept. Infact, I often only use my sense of sight in my dreams, I don't feel or hear anything. I suppose I need to work on this.

[Tripoli]

Yes this happens to me aswell. I know what they are trying to get off to the centimeter, its just that the words themselves are sooo distant.

[AURON]

Well, first off all, our brain isn't firing on all cylinders when we're dreaming, so it's pretty much like being mentally impaired at the moment. Of course other things kick in when we become lucid, so that's why people are able to recall things said and other events more. Personally I can remember most spoken conversations while dreaming normally, but when it comes to a dream where I'm using the computer to speak to other people, the only thing I can remember are emotions.

[Robot_Butler]

I have a hard time exactly remembering written words. If I can recall the dream clearly, I can normally remember the dialogue fairly well. It is, however, one of the first things to go when I have a poorly remembered dream. Have you ever tried to really pay attention to dialogue in a lucid dream. It can be a little wacky. I find that sometimes the words don't even match my interpretation of them. I will understand the meaning of the conversation, but the words don't really match.

[NrElAx]

Like someone else said I usually don't remeber hearing anything period. So its hard for me to remember converstaions. Although I know during some dreams I have conversations and I'll wake up knowing I had a converation but not knowing what I said.

[Puffin]

That isn't uncommon. Some people just remember more than others, depending on their recall and how vivid the dream was. Myself, I tend to remember 80% of the words spoken in my dreams but that's a lot, or not as much, compared to others.

[monk3y]

Maybe we don't have a language in our dreams. Maybe we just receive the concept of an idea, not exact words. This makes sense doesn't it(insert question mark here). thats what i thought

[Carrot]

I think I barely even have conversations in my dreams. It's more like actions and movements and feelings in my dreams. :O