Thread: Bilingual Dreams?

Originally Posted by Lord Bennington

Last night I had a dream entirely in German. Which is odd, because I don't speak that much. I told my German teacher, and she said she regularly dreams in German. Also odd, because I'd never really heard of people dreaming in their second languages, if they didn't speak it around the house. Anyone had any experiences with this?

As a side note, how weird would it be to adopt a language so fully that you start thinking in it all the time?

I guess that makes sense. Usually when I have dreams in German, I can understand people, but when I reply I speak a horrible broken German.

Much like real life. XD

Dreams often link to learning processes. In fact they are connected to all higher brain functions... learning, intuitive emotions and creativity.

So the dream may link the attempts to learn this new language. It may also link to how you connect with the german classes ... so good things would indicate good thoughts about the classes

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If you can get a dreamer to talk about what is on their minds right now then its very likely that they are going to be quoting at you the exact meaning of any given dream. Dreams are where we form emotions and particularly new emotions. The problem is that often there is no easy clues and no people who link directly to the issue that the dream is about. But with experience and some knowledge about how dreams use symbolism you maybe able to understand many dreams. Try the following dream dictionary to help you crack your dream.
http://www.unclesirbobby.org.uk/dreamessay.php THE DREAM DICTIONARY

My native language is Spanish, so yes, I have had dreams where I was speaking and being spoken to in Spanish. Most of my dreams are in English, though. I rarely speak Spanish, now, only when talking to my grandmother or if someone needs help translating.

I can think in both languages, depending on the situation. If I'm visiting family, and we are only speaking Spanish, then my train of thought is in Spanish. It's a bit hard to explain.

Just the other night, i had a dream in Portuguese. I was talking to my dead grandfather who is Brasilian. We were talking about how heaven was and how he really missed us. If you believe in those kinds of spiritual bonds like me, then this was an awesome dream.

Yeah, a lot of times I have dreams that are at least partially in spanish. I've never had one yet that was entirely spanish though.

I've had dreams in Japanese before (my second language). Usually in my dreams people only speak Japanese if they speak it in real life.

Originally Posted by Lord Bennington

Last night I had a dream entirely in German. Which is odd, because I don't speak that much. I told my German teacher, and she said she regularly dreams in German. Also odd, because I'd never really heard of people dreaming in their second languages, if they didn't speak it around the house. Anyone had any experiences with this?

As a side note, how weird would it be to adopt a language so fully that you start thinking in it all the time?

yo unas veses sueno en espanol, pero yo siempre hablo ingles.
yo empese de tener estos suenos quando trate de apprendir lo en classes
de espanol

Originally Posted by silicovolcaniosis

yo unas veses sueno en espanol, pero yo siempre hablo ingles.
yo empese de tener estos suenos quando trate de apprendir lo en classes
de espanol

"I sometimes dream in Spanish, but I always speak English. I began to have these dreams when I tried to learn it in Spanish classes."

I haven't dreamed in Spanish (that I can recall), but I've dreamed in Russian. I haven't had very man of those dreams, but I'm usually unable to understand what the speaker is saying (for me, the most difficult area of learning a foreign language), though when I speak I usually speak with my normal semi-fluency. Only once did I make up a word I couldn't think of... and became lucid as a result of it I suddenly realized that I don't just make up words in real life.

This reminds me...I really need to become fluent in another language
it gives me a task also...have a dream is C++

Oooh.

We spoke about this in class last week.

I've had dreams in German, French and Spanish.

3 languages I've learnt.

Learning a language is like when a baby is new to the world and is exploring and taking things in.
You know how babies understand what you might be telling them from your tone of voice etc.
This is called language acquisition.

Apparently it's the same for people who are learning a 2nd language
Your brain takes in more things than you are aware of.
Y'know, like your self concious

Haha I don't even know what i'm speaking about.

Carry on.

Being a mexican, most of my dreams are in spanish.

I remember having a dream once or twice in english in a random conversation, but I'm still astonished that, in contrast with my so-so english-skills, I spoke/understood it just like a real native-speaker

I haven't read through any of the post, but most language teachers I've talked to have said that when you speak another language in your dreams that isn't native to your own, it means you've achieved quite a bit of mastery at adapting it into your mind.

My mom said that she dreams in Hungarian sometimes (it was her first language, but she rarely speaks it now). I can say about 20 words, but I had a dream the other night that one of my cousins was speaking to me in Hungarian. I became lucid, and it all sounded accurate. She was saying a bunch of phrases that I hear my family say but don't understand. So it was accurate Hungarian... I just didn't understand a word of it!

Do you all understand when people are speaking to you in other languages in your dreams? Or are they more like those anxiety dreams where you need to communicate, but the person is speaking in a different language?

I've been studying Spanish off and on since I was a child. I've recently started up again in a more serious approach. And I have had this exact thing happen to me where people were speaking to me in spanish.

I agree with the idea that it is a higher point in your learning process. My goal is to be able to complete the sub/concious(sp) levels of learning the language :-)

i learned spanish and i have had full dreams in it but i have also had dreams in german and italian and i barley know those languages......

Originally Posted by Lord Bennington

Last night I had a dream entirely in German. Which is odd, because I don't speak that much. I told my German teacher, and she said she regularly dreams in German. Also odd, because I'd never really heard of people dreaming in their second languages, if they didn't speak it around the house. Anyone had any experiences with this?

As a side note, how weird would it be to adopt a language so fully that you start thinking in it all the time?

When I talk alot of french, I think in french. When I talk alot of english, I think in english. Same for german. My natural language is dutch. This happens completely automaticly, but yeah, it's weird I guess.

Also, when I think about a person, and that person is an english speaker, I will think in english. If that person would be dutch, I would think in dutch about him..

Originally Posted by ChaybaChayba

Also, when I think about a person, and that person is an english speaker, I will think in english. If that person would be dutch, I would think in dutch about him..

Isn't it strange? I'm the exact same way, but with Spanish.

Originally Posted by Lord Bennington

Last night I had a dream entirely in German. Which is odd, because I don't speak that much. I told my German teacher, and she said she regularly dreams in German. Also odd, because I'd never really heard of people dreaming in their second languages, if they didn't speak it around the house. Anyone had any experiences with this?

As a side note, how weird would it be to adopt a language so fully that you start thinking in it all the time?

well i have had some expiereces with that before except i was in a dark room and my mind was speaking to itself and i don't know what laguange it or they were speaking i won't blame you if you guys don't believe me but that is what happened. Here is another thought maybe you could keep doing that and somehow try to learn some weird laguage in your sleep!

I asked my spanish teacher about this. And she said she only dreams in English now :]

my native languages are english and spanish and i have them in my dreams both at the same time or just one or the other quite often although i would say my english dreams are more common and my hebrew is ok so i get those every once in a while

I had a dream the other night that I was in my spanish class and the prof was speaking basic french (which I speak on a very, very beginner level), and I understood it. Seemed just like real life. I was pissed to wake up at 5:30 from that dream and have to go to that class!

Common actually. I have an interest in foreign language and joined a forum on it. Some of the people there speak up to 10 languages and there was a thread on dreaming in other languages. Nearly everyone said they had dreamt in another language especially shortly after they started learning a new language. Around the time you become capable of putting basic sentences together you are likely to start having dreams that at least include some of that language. I'm on my 15th japanese lesson and I've started having dreams with other people speaking some japanese but not myself yet.

Just to add to the thread, I've had this as well. I started learning french just recently (about 2 and half weeks ago), and ever since I have had a number of dreams where anywhere from half of the the Dream to the entire thing has been in french. Quite an interesting experience, and it tends to help my learning. It's strange though, because my parents are Nigerian, and I understand Yoruba fluently, but I have had very few Dreams in my lifetime (under 10, I think) that actually contained any Yoruba. Odd.

I'm from Ottawa, Canada, a very bilingual city. My first language is french but I also speak english very fluently. I use both languages on a regular basis. When I dream, I usualy dream in french but if I'm in a situation where I would be speaking english, I do. The only thing is that my english doesn't really make sense in my dreams. I speak with english words in a french-like structure. During the dream I understand what I'm trying to say, but when I wake up I realise that what I said was totally ungramatical.