Thread: Which language do you dream in?

Originally Posted by aerilith

As for me, I speak Danish natively, but most of my dreams seem to be in English.
I am in constant contact with the English language, so it might be natural - whenever I watch a movie, play a game or browse the internet it is mostly done in English.

The same applies to me, but I still dream in my native language. Doesn't matter whether it's lucid or non-lucid.

I would imagine people dreaming in their native language to be the norm - which is why I am wondering why that is not the case for me.
I mean, if someone moves to a different country, and adapts to only speaking English(or some other non-native language), I can understand that their dreams would adjust.

I appreciate your input, I think it's quite amusing how/why there are small nuances like these. I think I even heard of some people speculating about a "Dream-language" based on some of their experiences.

In many of my dreams my DCs speak in a non-existent language or do not speak with words at all, yet I still understand them and myself. In lucid dreams I speak in my native English, and those I speak to respond in the same language, though anyone I am not speaking to will continue in whatever language they started in. Generally the times DCs and myself speak in other existing languages is within a week or two of me hearing others speaking in them, or when people talk about them. It is an interesting thing to think about, I'd like to see other responses as well.

I use to speak Czech in regular dreams, but I speak English sometimes, usually when I travel in a public transport or when the dream takes place abroad. I don't usually speak in my LDs, but when I have to (or I feel I have to), I speak English. Sometimes the DCs understand (or even speak) language they aren't supposed to know and I am surprised .

Originally Posted by aerilith

I would imagine people dreaming in their native language to be the norm - which is why I am wondering why that is not the case for me.

It could be because you read about (lucid dreaming) in English since there is not much info about the subject in Danish.

I'm a spanish speaker, so thats what I speak in dreams most of the time, if there is someone who speaks english will switch to that.

It's a combination of Swedish, English, and Japanese.

Lol so - Swenglinese?

That's complicated man! Strictly English here, but then it usually doesn't make much sense anyway when I wake up and think about what DCs said.

Originally Posted by XeL

It's a combination of Swedish, English, and Japanese.

Haha, that must get rather confusing Oo
Are you learning Swedish or originally from Sweden? (Or something similar)

I'm learning Japanese, but it hasn't really been in my dreams yet xD

I think it's normal to dream in other languages than your native if you use them actively. Speaking and writing in foreign languages is very difficult in dreams though. At least for me.

Last night I dreamt that I was to write "house" in Turkish. Such a simple word, I use it freely when awake, but I was really happy when I found out the right spelling in my dream. It was "ev".

I dream in English. However, one time, I had this dream where I was walking past this one store in the mall, and there were language classes going on inside. I learned that monachick foiolk means "green, plastic fork."

That's mona-sheek foy-yolk. You pronouce the "I" in foiolk like you are rolling an "R".

I'm a native Swedish speaker who currently lives in Finland, gets surrounded by Finnish but get by and only speak English. My dreams are very accurate in this matter, if I meet a Finnish person, they'll speak in English with me, though if I see Finnish DC's talk with eachother, it's in Finnish. When I'm talking with my Swedish family and friends, it's in Swedish, also when I'm lucid, it's in Swedish. Interestingly enough though, I have noticed I'm the same case as EyeOfNight (or so it seems), where I can get by communicating with others without realizing what language I'm talking in, or what I'm saying (non-lucid).

I don't recall a single incident of a dream with a person actually talking in some language. (Or a dream with any vocal sounds at all, aside from a monster growling)

I simply know the topic of the discussion, and realize I'm having a conversation. As far as I can see, no vocal conversation happens in my dreams. Haven't talked to anyone in an LD

English, my native language. However, I have had dreams where I would have people speaking gibberish to me. Like my own little dream language. Next step... decode it.

Primarily English. However, there have been a few dreams where my DCs were talking to each other in Spanish. ...or at least something that sounded a lot like Spanish.

I generally dream in English, but that is the only language I speak fluently. I know bits of Spanish and German and Japanese, but nothing I could hold much of a conversation with. Well, sometimes I hear songs in other languages in my dreams, but that's probably because I listen to music that's in languages other than English all the time. Oh, and one time I dreamed I was a half-elf and was talking to some elf guy in Elven, but I don't remember the words, if there even were any.

English and occasionally spanish.

Originally Posted by WrOx

I'm a native Swedish speaker who currently lives in Finland, gets surrounded by Finnish but get by and only speak English. My dreams are very accurate in this matter, if I meet a Finnish person, they'll speak in English with me, though if I see Finnish DC's talk with eachother, it's in Finnish. When I'm talking with my Swedish family and friends, it's in Swedish, also when I'm lucid, it's in Swedish. Interestingly enough though, I have noticed I'm the same case as EyeOfNight (or so it seems), where I can get by communicating with others without realizing what language I'm talking in, or what I'm saying (non-lucid).

That's really amazing, I assume you don't speak Finnish too well?
Have you ever had two dream characters who had a conversation, which you did not understand? (It would seem unlikely, but, could be)

I think, given that DC's are made up by one's own mind, it would make sense that you'd understand what they were saying no matter the language... At least that seems reasonable to me.
I guess it might also explain the whole thing about having a conversation without a language - which is also really interesting.

I can't wait to have more lucids and interact with DCs!

Originally Posted by aerilith

Haha, that must get rather confusing Oo
Are you learning Swedish or originally from Sweden? (Or something similar)

I'm learning Japanese, but it hasn't really been in my dreams yet xD

I'm born and raised in Sweden. I've learned English by playing video games my whole life. I'm currently studying Japanese in Japan.

Good luck with Japanese. Consistency is the key.

Originally Posted by aerilith

That's really amazing, I assume you don't speak Finnish too well?
Have you ever had two dream characters who had a conversation, which you did not understand? (It would seem unlikely, but, could be)

I think, given that DC's are made up by one's own mind, it would make sense that you'd understand what they were saying no matter the language... At least that seems reasonable to me.
I guess it might also explain the whole thing about having a conversation without a language - which is also really interesting.

I can't wait to have more lucids and interact with DCs!

It's very interesting, because I never understand what they're saying, except for a key word here and there but usually never enough for me to be able to form or understand sentences or even the topic of the conversation. My Finnish is quite poor and I can't understand if people have conversations, unless I hear key words and and combine that with reading their body language (I've done quite a bit of studying on non-verbal languages).

An interesting example is from a recent WILD I had, as I was lying in bed, relaxing and passively trying to keep my mind awake, suddenly I hear someone knock on the door. I find that very odd, but I pretend to be sleeping. Suddenly my girlfriends mom enters the room, speaking Finnish on the phone, I have no idea what she's saying, but I notice she's taking coins from me, as I assume she needs to borrow them, and I also notice she turns to me and says "sorry" in Finnish. I am clueless to why she spoke Finnish to me in that dream, as our relationship is completely based on English.

I think though, since my mind's so conditioned to not understanding people when they're having a conversation, the same applies in my dream, as I expect not to understand what they're saying.

And I share your excitement with interacting with DCs, it's an amazing new world!

Originally Posted by XeL

Good luck with Japanese. Consistency is the key.

Thank you, consistency certainly seems to be a good thing, but keeping up motivation can be difficult.
Not having learned a lot of Kanji yet, it feels like I can hardly use the language (As I have no one to practice speaking to around me).
I do write a few diary-like entries and have a few Japanese people, whom I frequently write to, but it's an uphill struggle at first.

I'm sure it gets easier when more kanji are learned, at least I'd be able to read some Japanese material then.

Originally Posted by WrOx

Spoiler for shortening things a bit :D:

It's very interesting, because I never understand what they're saying, except for a key word here and there but usually never enough for me to be able to form or understand sentences or even the topic of the conversation. My Finnish is quite poor and I can't understand if people have conversations, unless I hear key words and and combine that with reading their body language (I've done quite a bit of studying on non-verbal languages).

An interesting example is from a recent WILD I had, as I was lying in bed, relaxing and passively trying to keep my mind awake, suddenly I hear someone knock on the door. I find that very odd, but I pretend to be sleeping. Suddenly my girlfriends mom enters the room, speaking Finnish on the phone, I have no idea what she's saying, but I notice she's taking coins from me, as I assume she needs to borrow them, and I also notice she turns to me and says "sorry" in Finnish. I am clueless to why she spoke Finnish to me in that dream, as our relationship is completely based on English.

I think though, since my mind's so conditioned to not understanding people when they're having a conversation, the same applies in my dream, as I expect not to understand what they're saying.

And I share your excitement with interacting with DCs, it's an amazing new world!

Wow, I didn't expect that
I guess you might be right about not understanding it due to not expecting to understand it - yet it still seems a bit strange that your mind "makes up" a conversation, which you can mostly not understand.
I am rather new to consciously trying to induce lucid dreams, and the whole concept in general, so I am constantly amazed at some of the things the subconscious is capable of!

My native language is Chinese but I live in an English speaking environment, so most of my dreams are in English. There's the occasional Japanese or Chinese but not alot.

I only know english, so all my dreams are in english

English, same as solarflare.

Seeing as we use our dreams to sort and store the information of the day it would only make sense that the language we interact with most is the language we dream in.