Thread: Learning A Second Language

Originally Posted by lucid_seeker

this concept is cool, it would definately work for something that you already know, you can just practice it but when it comes to trying to learn something you haven't researched or have no knowledg of, its impossible to be honest, but practicing something you already know is most likely possible, this would be useful for my french speaking exam coming up in a couple of weeks[/b]

I used to think that way. I've had some experiences that make me begin another way. Now, just a reminder to positivistic ignoramuses, I'm not saying the experiences I'm about to tell you "prove" anything. A fertile mind can always think of plausible explanations to keep whatever worldview intact. They are just experiences I choose to see a certain way.

One time, as I was going to bed, I had the most amazing vision. I saw two guys conversing in arabic, and I was one of the guys. I was amazed that for some reason, I could speak arabic. It's not really that I understood at a word-to-word level what I was saying, but on a global scale, I knew what was going on. We were in a marketplace, discussing goods, and women.

This experience amazed me because I took arabic for a while... long enough to recognize the language and a few words, but definitely not long enough to actually construct sentences.

So obviously, there was no arabic-speaking person there to say, "wow what impeccable grammar." Perhaps it was all jibberish. In which case, you would be right that the dream didn't represent "anything I didn't already know."

Maybe we have capacities we don't know about.

But whatever the case may be, there's no doubt that having dreams like that (even if they're completely jibberish) could be extremely useful for mastering a language.

Extremely, extremely useful. Because even if it was jibberish, I definitely have a "feel" for the language, its pace, rhythm, structure, music, syllables. That's at a very minimum.

What a cool dream, now if only I could do that in Italian.

The Purple Knight

Originally Posted by chevalier_violet

I used to think that way. I've had some experiences that make me begin another way. Now, just a reminder to positivistic ignoramuses, I'm not saying the experiences I'm about to tell you "prove" anything. A fertile mind can always think of plausible explanations to keep whatever worldview intact. They are just experiences I choose to see a certain way.

One time, as I was going to bed, I had the most amazing vision. I saw two guys conversing in arabic, and I was one of the guys. I was amazed that for some reason, I could speak arabic. It's not really that I understood at a word-to-word level what I was saying, but on a global scale, I knew what was going on. We were in a marketplace, discussing goods, and women.

This experience amazed me because I took arabic for a while... long enough to recognize the language and a few words, but definitely not long enough to actually construct sentences.

So obviously, there was no arabic-speaking person there to say, "wow what impeccable grammar." Perhaps it was all jibberish. In which case, you would be right that the dream didn't represent "anything I didn't already know."

Maybe we have capacities we don't know about.

But whatever the case may be, there's no doubt that having dreams like that (even if they're completely jibberish) could be extremely useful for mastering a language.

Extremely, extremely useful. Because even if it was jibberish, I definitely have a "feel" for the language, its pace, rhythm, structure, music, syllables. That's at a very minimum.

What a cool dream, now if only I could do that in Italian.

The Purple Knight[/b]

You have a valid point actually, during our everyday life we could pick up things subconciously for example maybe we watched a TV show with some french in it, then a few weeks later we can speak french in our dreams, thinking about it this way certainly makes it possible, who knows what our subconcious picks up without us realising?