Hacker News Reader

Comment by BoppreH | Hacker News Reader

I think the issue is similar with bilingual people. Since I started speaking English, my thoughts regularly switch from one language to another, especially when I can't remember the word I want in that language. It's also a great exercise during the learning process.

But what caught my attention in the article was the link between language and self-awareness. I think it makes sense: the more complex ideas you can convey to other people, the more complex ideas you can convey to yourself too.

Maybe that's what make us different from the other animals?

View on HN

ever dreamt in English? until you reach that point, dreaming in a foreign language, you didn't really grasp the other language.

Dreaming in another language may be a sign you're still just a beginner, I don't know. I remember reading that when you have the Tetris Effect (which is awesome) it's because your brain is still trying to figure out all the rules of shape patterns, and that experts who play all the time don't have the Tetris Effect.

I disagree. In my experience, dreaming is more correlated with attempting to gain mastery than in having achieved mastery (in language and other things).

I think having one's inner thoughts in the new language, without having to mentally translate from another known language is a more relevant gauge of mastery.

Of course, there is also the level of mastery where a thought is more naturally expressed in the newer language, and you have to mentally translate it back to your native tongue...

Now that you mentioned, I don't remember a single instance of a person speaking in my dreams. But I can't figure out if it was just a lack of language as general or if people communicated telepathically.

Either way... that's unsettling.

I've definitely had dreams with people speaking to me, but even in a language I'm learning -- the strange thing is that I can remember struggling to parse and comprehend what they were saying, as if their level of speaking ability was a bit higher than my own.

Meh. I've dreamed in French, and I'm not even close to being fluent.

I'm a native english speaker, and I don't dream in english, or any specific language for that matter. When I reconstruct the dream later, I put the characters' thoughts into words, but at the time, it's just telepathy.

Maybe I'm just weird.

I doubt that. For instance, I started dreaming in English way before becoming fluent.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com