If you are bilingual, do you dream in more than one language?

[Exterminatore]

I have been learning to speak, read, write, and sing in Latin for about 1.5 years. I am conversationally fluent in at least basic Latin.

Recently I’ve noticed I sometimes have dreams entirely in Latin. Have you ever experienced this? Have you ever been learning a 2nd language and started having dreams in the language you are learning?

I appreciate any answers you can give, thank you!

Ego percipio aliqua responsa, tibi gratias agere potes!

[purplepoppy]

I've heard you dream in the last language you spoke before going to bed. Generally people around here will speak welsh and English at the same time, that is switching between languages during conversation, even mid sentence or substituting words from each. There's also a tendency to 'make words up' as you speak that are neither language but understood by both e. g. Joggio -jogging. I wonder if this is what your doing in a dream, taking an English word and making it sound Latin.

[Exterminatore]

Interesting, and well written. I do often read in Latin before I go to bed. I wonder if that’s the cause.

All that is spoken in my dreams is 100% Latin. Definitely not English words in a Latin sound.

[Exterminatore]

I do primarily dream in English, but I’ve noticed recently I have dreams entirely in Latin. Just wanted to state that.

[Thestupidusername]

Good question.

I usually dream in Swedish but I have dreamed in English.

[Exterminatore]

Weird but cool when that happens huh?

[Thestupidusername]

Yeah its rare.. only time I would dream in English is if someone i know who speaks English is in the dream.

[Thestupidusername]

But cool that you got dreams in Latin!

[Exterminatore]

It’s so wild. It’s happened twice now. I couldn’t believe it the first time. It was so strange yet exciting having a dream in a language other than English.

[Exterminatore]

In my dreams everyone was speaking in Latin. Even those who don’t speak any of it.

[Thestupidusername]

Yeah it does feel strange. But thats good probably means you are learning it well

[Exterminatore]

I definitely am. I try to learn for at least an hour a day or more. Right now I’m trying to lean synonyms for the words I already know. I have a great base vocabulary but need to expand on it.

[Thestupidusername]

Thats great!

How do you learn?

[Exterminatore]

I have multiple methods. I have an app on my phone called Legentibus. It has tuns of fictional stories written entirely in Latin at basic, intermediate, and advanced levels. They can not only be read but auto played in Latin. You can also switch on English subtitles for most of them.

I also have several paperback books written entirely in Latin which I also read from. I have multiple Latin dictionaries and books on Latin grammar. Latin has 5 declinations.

In addition to reading in Latin and listening to stories in spoken Latin I also participate in several online Latin language forums.

There are also several Latin channels on YouTube I watch, that are entirely in Latin.

So I simply immersed myself in the language as often as I can.

The grammar is the most difficult part so I’m always practicing conjugations and such. Someone’s I’ll sit down and write an essay in Latin, for no other purpose than to write in Latin. I also try to force myself to think in Latin as much as possible.

Lastly I speak to my 2 pet cats and my dog in Latin just for practice. They don’t seem to care and I’ve even taught the dog to sit, shake, and a few other commands in Latin.

So I use a wide variety of tools and make time daily to constantly expand my vocabulary, practice my grammar and become as fluent as I possibly can in Latin.

[Exterminatore]

Oh yeah, and I nearly forgot I attend Latin Mass at church twice a month or more.

[Thestupidusername]

Thats amazing! What made you deside on Latin?

[Exterminatore]

To study theology for starters. I think it’s a beautiful sounding language. I’m an amateur European historian, I am particularly fascinated by Medieval and Roman history, so the language is a plus when reading inscriptions, letters, and documents in Latin, which was the common tongue of Europe first nearly 1600 years.

The day I decided to go for it I was reading transcripts of Joan of Arc’s various trials and interrogations. I found them fascinating. I had to use English translations of those documents as the originals were written in Latin to read it, but I did see pictures of some of the originals. I realized I could understand a few words. That sparked my curiosity.

So I then attempted to read De Gallico Bellum (the galic wars) by Julius Caesar in Latin while using a Latin dictionary to translate.

Well I didn’t get too far into that because it was cumbersome to have to literally look up the meaning of each word in English and I also couldn’t make sense of the grammar. So that’s when I decided to take it to the next level and invest in some tools to learn. That’s how I got to this point. It all started with me being curious about the language simply because I could understand a few of the Latin words…very few at that time while reading transcripts of Joan of Arc’s trials and interrogations.

[Thestupidusername]

Wow thats quite a story! Nice!:)

[Exterminatore]

Yes, and what about you. You speak Swedish and English. Do you speak any other languages.

[Thestupidusername]

No I only speak those two😓 but there are many languages I'd love to learn.

by the way thank you for MHO😊

[Exterminatore]

You’re welcome. Thank you for the conversation.

[Thestupidusername]

Thank you too!:)

[AutumnSerenity]

I’m trilingual and yes, I dream in those languages. I think it’s because I’ve met people/have had friendships with people who speak those languages. I usually dream of them and we have conversations in their languages in my dreams.

[Exterminatore]

Trilingual…my hats off to you miss. Which languages do you speak?

[AutumnSerenity]

Apart from English & French, I picked up Spanish for professional reasons and am currently studying Italian.

[Exterminatore]

Outstanding. After you master Italian, do you have any plans to learn Latin? You’d be able to pick it up very easily having those three languages already leaned. You just have to get used to the declinations. Latin has 5 declinations.

[AutumnSerenity]

I’m not opposed to it, but it won’t be my main focus unless it aligns with a personal goal of mine.

[NathanDavis]

well, I do live in two languages... but I DO dream in both, and always have... unlike @IslaTheWitch which is very interesting... I thought everyone would?

[IslaTheWitch]

Fortunately, @NathanDavis we are different :D

[Exterminatore]

Interesting answer. Thank you both.

[Alwayreckles93]

Sound like a prophetic dream. It's a message from the Lord telling you onebday you will be speaking Latin fluently. I had dreams about people I don't know at the time later 8n tge future I become friends with people I've seen in my dreams. Not sure howto explain it. But I say the Lord speak to us in our dreams.

[Exterminatore]

I don’t think it’s prophetic. I just noticed I do it now and it kind of shocked me.

[TruliAdreamerInLove]

I like this question. From the little I know of each language I’ve never dreamt of any of them in my dreams.

[Exterminatore]

Understandable. I know a good deal of Spanish, but I’m not very fluent in it. I have never dreamt in Spanish.

However Latin is the language I know best. I am fluent at least at a basic level. I’d have no trouble having coffee with someone for an hour and speaking only in Latin. However I don’t consider that to be truly fluent. I consider true fluency when you have a very broad vocabulary base in addition to correct grammar and understanding slang as well.

I know at least one word for most Latin words, however I can’t use synonyms for many words as I don’t know them. I can understand when a synonym is used I haven’t heard or seen by context most of the time, but don’t know enough of them. So I have a long way to go before I consider myself truly fluent. But I am at least basically proficient in speaking, writing, reading, and singing in Latin.

[IslaTheWitch]

I live in three languages. But my dreams are language free, fortunately :D I would lose this last bit of sanity I still have if I had to dream in languages!

[NathanDavis]

what's so bad about it though?

[IslaTheWitch]

Ginger => Ingwer => ...

I couldn't recall how it is in my NATIVE language... too many words and cultural connections to remember

"imbir" in Polish, I needed Google translator for this :D

[NathanDavis]

basically... this

[IslaTheWitch]

@NathanDavis yeah :D

[JacobJordan]

Very rarely. I typically dream in my first language or whatever language I use most. I speak many languages

[sheikalana]

I'm bilingual, however, I think and dream in English.

[4ngelic]

yea i dream in both

[robocop666]

You cannot be fluent in a dead language. Learn to be fluent in a spoken language like Spanish.

[Exterminatore]

I’ll bet you you’re wrong. You definitely can be fluent in a dead language.

A dead language simply means there are no more native speakers of the language.

Latin is alive and well. It makes up about 30% of the words in English via root words. It is the language of medicine, law, and theology.

Us Catholics even have masses entirely in Latin…which has made a massive comeback recently.

Latin as a spoken language is also making a comeback secularly.

I already know a lot of Spanish. I’m learning Latin for theological purposes and because I enjoy the language. Also as an amateur medievalist it is quite handy as it was the Lingua Franca of Europe for nearly 1600 years. Almost every important document was written in Latin in Europe in that time period.

There are many Latin groups online with either spoken Latin or Latin in text form. There are frequent Latin language conferences globally.

Latin is not as dead as you think. I have many books that are completely secular that are entirely in Latin, and most of them were written in the last 10 years.

[Altheavas]

Yes, I do!

[Sirenboobzilla]

Sometimes yes.

[LavLavLuv]

Yes..