It’s surreal to catch yourself in a dream while you are conscious of the fact that you’re dreaming. Picking at your brain and thinking when forming a sentence in a foreign language is even more interesting. Put the two together, and you’ve got a powerful moment where you’ve reached the turning point in your learning. Dreaming in your target language and witnessing how your brain switches to communicate with a native speaker means you’re on the right track to fluency. Whether you’re aware that you’re dreaming or not, that dialect has made its way into your subconscious, which is how you’re able to make sense of input and convert it into output.  

My Experience

I remember the first time I dreamed in the target language I had started learning. I traveled to Turkiye for the first time and felt lost. I also realized I forgot to pack some essentials. After roaming around amidst the chaos of tourist groups and crowded narrow streets, I finally accepted that I had to ask for directions to a pharmacy. There was a sense of urgency, and well, I came across a woman who only spoke Turkish. At that moment, I remembered that, contrary to popular belief, most people don’t speak English in Istanbul. Then I somehow forced myself to get some words out, hoping she would understand me. This shows that immersion takes you out of your comfort zone and pushes you out of the fear of delivering it wrong. At this point, it didn’t matter that I was going to slip up and mispronounce something. So, I did it anyway, and to my surprise, she understood and gave me directions. 

She spoke rapidly and used unfamiliar units of distance, which made it difficult for me since I don’t use the metric system. Still, I was proud of myself for breaking through the communication barrier. It gave me confidence in my pronunciation and articulation as I practice my speaking skills during real conversations now. I learned that I needed to improve on comprehension, which meant additional active listening and reading. From then on, I’ve continued to have dreams of different sorts, but they eventually progressed to more conversational ones where I’m actively connecting with others by using the language. I went from constantly translating everything in my head and thinking thrice before speaking, to talking with confidence even if I didn’t feel “ready.” In fact, I crave making mistakes because it’s an effective roadmap to fluency. 

State of Immersion

When you’re in a state of immersion, your efforts shine. The results of the time and dedication to learning the language show. Dreaming signals that your brain is internalizing and adapting to the concepts you’re studying. Whether it’s by reading, listening to podcasts, watching movies, or writing, immersion is necessary to progress and make the grammar and vocabulary stick. To create connections and put together full sentences, memorization won’t cut it. Immerse yourself in forms of input and practice forms of output. Who knows? You might see yourself in a dream in full conversation mode with a native speaker.

The relationship between language acquisition and sleep is not clear and doesn’t prove or mean that you’re going to be fluent. However, it indicates that you’ve hit a milestone in your journey and are making real progress as your subconscious embeds the knowledge. Since dreams present the opportunity for you to reflect and analyze which areas need improvement, you should use them to aid and direct your language learning journey.

Editor: Shannon Hensley