Ready to learn? Turn your nightmare into a dream

Learning as if you were dreaming

Have you ever dreamed to go to bed and learn a foreign language over the night?

Is it possible to simply fall asleep and wake up with this long-desired skill of having mastered the language that you have so much struggled with? Sounds like nonsense? Still, learning and sleeping might have something in common.

1. Need. 

2. Phases.

3. Satisfaction.

Let's have a closer look at these similarities. 

NEED. In case of sleep it is a physiological need in order to recharge brain and body, whereas in language learning it can be intellectual or social necessity. Anyway, in both cases you just feel that you can't do without it.

PHASES. Sleep contains a phase when the body and brain processes slow down and you enter the stage in which, if woken up, you would feel disoriented. Language learning also has this preparatory phase when you are getting used to new words, structures, intonations, ways to express yourself, etc. Just like in sleep, if you are "woken up", i.e. suddenly disturbed or distracted, you will most probably feel at a loss not knowing what to say and how to say it in another language.

Another phase of sleep also has something in common with speaking a foreign language. During REM-sleep your heart rate and breathing quicken and you see dreams (even if you don't always remember them). When you learn and try to speak a foreign language, not only does your heart beat faster, you also sweat, hold your breath and see nightmares (usually about how stupid you look and sound). The truth is, your speaking partners don't care about your mistakes and just want to help you feel at ease. So, take this advantage and turn your nightmare into a dream. The dream of speaking a new language!

SATISFACTION. Both in sleep and language learning, when we finally get a chance to make our dream come true, we feel satisfaction. Sleeping and dreaming allow our bodies to relax and our brains to recharge. Speaking a foreign language opens the multilingual and multicultural world that has always been there for us.