In which language do bilinguals dream?

[Thackary]

For people who can speak two languages (or more), in which language do you dream?

[Decadence]

I tend to dream in either my mother tongue (Hindi), or English, seeing as that's the language I use most of the time now...

Sometimes I dream in multiple languages though... That can be a bit odd as I know /speak about 7.

D.

"Yes, I am an agent of Satan,
But my duties are largely ceremonial."

... Thus spake the Cardinal of Decadence

[Dax]

Thackary, i've talked to drh monkey and she says both, just in order to get confused!

[James Baster]

I know someone who claimed to have a dream in one of those old text adventures once, you know, the GO NORTH ones?

[Thackary]

Well Dax, as we know, she gets confused so easily!

[Ed]

My first langauge is English, but the first dream I spoke out loud in (I was 5) I was reciting the lords prayer in Welsh. Ever since then I have dreamt in both Welsh and English, although I have to say, more often than not it is Welsh.

[S.P.I.G]

I spoke to a few friends from abroad a couple of years back and I asked them the same question. From what they told me it depends - normally on whether or not they're dreaming about someone. If they're dreaming about someone who speaks predominantly English then it'll be in English etc. although normally it's a mish-mash of conflicting languages because you rarely just dream of one thing.
Personally I don't think I've ever dreamed in a "language" so to speak. After all dreams consist of images mainly, words never seem to have asignificant role - and when they do they never appear in any language, you just seem to know what they mean. Saying that though there has been the odd occassion where I've dreamed about speaking to someone and I was speaking a completely different language from English yet I could understand every word of it.

[Jordan]

Do you truly think dreams mean anything or are they just a product of the day's events?

[S.P.I.G]

Dreams are a mixture of both - sometimes you have dreams which just appear to be concerned with the day's events (usually the little details you never noticed throughout the day) and other times dreams appear to have a significance, maybe helping solve issues or problems your brain has subconsciously been working on for weeks

[monkeymadness]

and then you get the lovely one which everyone gets in every country where you are trying to get somewhere but kep getting distracted.

[Saint Sal]

I always dream about my teeth falling out, and then have to check my mouth out when I wake up to find out if I'm all gummy...

[n]

I once had this great dream where I was at a party where I had all these little tablets that I kept taking- each tablet enabled me to speak a different language fluently. For some reason, my chosen language in my dream was Hungarian... woke up wishing those tablets existed...

[S.P.I.G]

Sounds to me that you had some sort of attraction towards a Hungarian male/female at the time....

[Seline]

Or then you get the dream which repeats itself. Or the one where you try to solve a mathematical problem which is impossible to solve. (my nightmare)

[Jordan]

How about those dreams where that guy you've been secretly admiring confesses his undying love for you? For some reason when I have those dreams and then see the guy around campus I get nervous - like he knows I dreamt about him or something.

[Anonymous]

Losing your teeth in a dream means you've been lying, and are hurting a friend by doing so.

[Saint Sal]

I was told it was about masturbation....hmmmm. Yes. Well *cough cough*

[Jiang]

I know it sounds really weird but my mum told me when I was really little and used to talk in my sleep i spoke in spanish which is really odd given that i don't speak spanish and never have. However I sometimes dream in mixtures of german and english plus other weird languages.

[Guest]

[s]Thackary wrote on 15:11, 22nd Jan 2002:
For people who can speak two languages (or more), in which language do you dream?


If I'm dreaming about people whom I usuall talk to in English, I dream in English but if I'm dreaming about people I'd usually talk to in Gujarati I'd dream in Gujarati. It's really no different to how I am in waking life.

[rae]

I have the tooth dream, too! And for years when I was younger I'd have dreams about falling in the gap in the tube station. Don't you wish you could have more flying dreams? Those ones are always too rare. And more of the ones where the yummy boy professes his undying love--those are great, too.