Dreaming in Foreign Languages

[Cavesa]

I've had dreams in many different languages over the years, but am still waiting to experience one involving sign language...maybe this is something to look forward to later this year?

A curious question: how about sleep talking in sign languages? I suppose it is possible. For example aphasias do affect natives of sign languages too. I specifically asked a teacher about it, but I didn't look up details. So, sleep talking in sign languages is an interesting idea.

I googled it up and recommend this very good reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/ ... leep_sign/

Sign language learners can sleep talk too:

No joke: I took an ASL class in college. Around finals, I signed "bow tie" in my sleep and poked my ex- in the eye.

(by GIS-rockstar .... how do you people usually quote reddit threads anyways?)

People sleep talk in sign languages, mutter, stutter, make puns in sign languages (but this one has always seemed obvious to me that I didn't think of the question), or can talk to themselves:

My grandfather was deaf, and not only would he sign in his sleep, but he would also "sign to himself" while eating, driving, and sitting around, just like as if he was talking to himself under his breath

. (by Zmastr). or by deleted user:

My dad is deaf and he always signs his thoughts to himself. You can know exactly what's on his mind just by reading his sign language. He also does this when he drives. I remember when I was a kid, he would get me nervous because he wouldn't have his hands on the steering wheel.

.

People also sign about crazy stuff while waking from anesthesia and it can really confuse the nurses (by Abra-Used-Teleport):

My mom is a sign language interpreter. She went into surgery a few years ago and when she came out of it, she was flailing her arms around. My grandparents and the nurse were present, but they thought something was wrong. I was the only one who she had to practice with while she was doing the single-mom-and-going-to-college thing, so I had to stand there and interpret her flailing while the nurse tried to do her thing. Except she was signing things like, "no, mom, I'll make you some homemade bread when I get home--I can't do it right now...........damn this hurts..............I'm fine..."

There are lots of jewels in that thread (such as an idea to make a study on Italians, which is awesome. Really, I would be interested in general to get to know more about the issue of mixing talking and normal gestures among people with hearing condition from various countries, especially the bilinguals).

One person (Stryker) even wrote:

also, schizophrenic deaf people see hands signing in their peripheral vision

I don't know whether this is true, but it would be interesting. Another one (BionicGal):

Deaf babies also "babble" in ASL before signing full words/sentences

or by Allenhale:

I'm hard of hearing and had an interpreter for many years when I was younger. I've used ASL for years and am fluent. I have on more then one occasion caught myself signing to myself as though I'm talking to myself. I also sign songs when I'm listening to music all the time.

The songs part is awesome.

Really, how can some people doubt that sign languages are full value languages and real native ones?
And why are some people (not only in that thread) still having problem with the term "sign language speakers" and using the verbs like speak and talk in the context of sign languages? After all, people with wheelchairs also normally talk about going somewhere, not riding somewhere.

[smallwhite]

Last night, I dreamt that I went to Barcelona again, but this time unplanned and unprepared. So I had to go to the market to buy a watch. I looked at the watches at a stall, looked at the lady stall owner, thought hard for a few seconds, and asked her, ... ¿Cuánto cuesta?
(How much does it cost?)

Funny, I haven't been studying Spanish, and I haven't worn a watch for decades.

[Willow]

I usually dream about having trouble expressing my self in language, which recently take the most of my attention. I'm either muted or with a blank mind, having no idea how to use the words, which in reality seemed to be so familiar Then i'm totally lost and blind with fear...
Summarizing: welcome to my personal nightmare

[LinguaPony]

I often dream of attending classes in linguistics schools.

[smallwhite]

I've been alternating between Greek and Swedish lately. Last night, the 2 languages received equal airtime in my dreams.

Dream 1: I was at an oceanarium watching dolphin shows. After the show, I got to talk to the trainer. He was brown-skinned so I had to speak in a foreign language. I searched for vocabulary. "... ζεστό... ή... κρύο;" ("warm or cold?" in Greek). No idea what I was trying to ask him but I swear it felt appropriate at the time. The guy didn't understand me, I repeated, he still didn't understand, and walked away.
(The words ζεστό and κρύο appeared in some sentences I'd been studying).

Dream 2: I was in an office. I overheard a young man in the next room talking in Swedish. So I asked him, this time fluently, "Är du svenska?" ("Are you Swedish?" but wrong declension). He said no. I felt confused and asked him again, "Är du svenska?" He told me I was saying it wrong, and that it should be "svenstal" instead. I repeated after him, but felt more confused. "Svenstal. Svensk tal? Svensk language?" That wasn't what I was trying to say!
("tal" actually means "number" in Swedish, and means language only in Dutch where it's spelt "taal", so I was mixing up my languages again). He walked away as well.

[smallwhite]

I had been studying Greek for 13 days straight, averaging 2:40 hours a day. Yesterday I only studied for 12 minutes, and I dreamt in Greek:

I was in a very large warehouse or carpark. There were a few people around and they looked concerned. I asked them what happened. «Που σύμβαινε;»

The pronoun is wrong but at least I spoke spontaneously this time!

[smallwhite]

Boy, do I dream a lot

In my dream this morning, I was working in a large apartment with a few other people, and they were all polyglots (must have been you guys ). Then our boss came to check on us. He addressed those other people in French instead of his L1 Cantonese, and I told him he didn't have to, because they understand everything (any language). He then addressed me in French as well, and I replied what I felt meant "I speak everything" in French— «Je parle tous !» And even in the dream that didn't feel right...

[Neurotip]

From time to time I've said a few words of an L2 in a dream, but although it seemed right in the dream it would usually be very wrong. Last week though I said something in Italian (disappointingly I can't remember what) and woke up quickly enough that I was able to confirm that it was accurate - which made me particularly happy

Really though I just wanted to reply to this thread to express my approval of the term 'sleep-snore-dream'. Love it

[Tristano]

I think I'm entitled to talk about this

I dream in foreign languages all the time.
Since my main language is from a few years English, I almost always dream in English, although if I have to talk with dream characters that I know to be Italian, I speak to them in Italian. If I'm in a Dutch situation, I speak Dutch. Sometimes I have deal with foreign tourists and I occasionally have to speak French or Spanish to them because they don't speak any English. I remember explaining to a very angry French tourist how to reach the toilet, after hearing him complaining that 'the fucking Dutch people are only interested to learn English' . Plot twist, I tell him "mais je parle Français, je peu vous aider! La toilette est la-bas".

Other times I start to talk in all my languages when I occasionally meet polyglot dream characters. Sometimes I start to speak to some character in a language, only to realise that I'm speaking in a language they don't understand.

When I start to study a new language intensely, I encounter native speakers of that language that try to communicate with me or teaching me a word, although in this case it is almost always gibberish.

-

chapter sleep paralyses: everything what you experience during a sleep paralysis are hallucinations. There are a lot of blurred images and whispering going on, and that's why many cultures believed there was some ghost involved. The only real thing is that you can think more or less clearly in that moment. If you understand that you are experiencing a sleep paralysis, just think: "this is not real, soon I will wake up or continue with a normal dream". There is no reason to be scared, it is completely innocuous.

[Hrhenry]

https://youtu.be/u4sPy-02NjI
... for a laugh.

On the other hand, sometimes dreaming in another language which you *do* know can be like dreaming in your native language. When that happens (for me), it's usually with or about someone I've known for years. That means any meaningful dream is going to be in either Spanish or Italian. I have had dreams in other languages I've studied but they really only amount to my brain trying to consolidate something I've just learned.

R.
==