Skip to main content

The moment you first dreamed / thought in the new language

Hiroshi Sato ⭐ Helpful member
14 Jun 2026, 04:33

It happened last week — I caught myself doing mental arithmetic in the local language without translating, and a few nights ago I apparently dreamed in it too. After months of feeling like I was getting nowhere, these little signs felt huge. When did your brain first flip like that, and did it feel as surreal to you?

13 replies · page 1 of 2

Grace Kim 🏆 Community expert
14 Jun 2026, 06:33

Mine was ordering food entirely on autopilot, no translating first — realised halfway through the sentence what I’d just done. Small moment, felt huge.

🐺
Marco Rossi ⭐ Helpful member
14 Jun 2026, 07:43

Still waiting for this to happen to me, honestly.

Isabella Santos ⭐ Helpful member
15 Jun 2026, 09:21

Dreaming in it happened before my daytime fluency really caught up, oddly out of order compared to how I expected it to go.

Kwame Mensah 🏆 Community expert
16 Jun 2026, 08:16

Does this tend to happen gradually, or is it genuinely a single noticeable flip the way OP describes?

Sophie Dubois ⭐ Helpful member
17 Jun 2026, 03:33

Gradual for me, only noticed in hindsight — no single dramatic moment I can point to.

Hiroshi Sato ⭐ Helpful member
21 Jun 2026, 22:46

OP here — interesting how split this is between sudden and gradual across different people. Wasn’t expecting that.

Pavel Novak ⭐ Helpful member
25 Jun 2026, 08:14

Following, months in and still translating everything in my head.

Emma Thompson ⭐ Helpful member
3 Jul 2026, 05:59

Mine was arguing with a customer service rep entirely in the new language, and not noticing the switch had happened until well after the call ended.

Fatou Diallo ⭐ Helpful member
3 Jul 2026, 20:02

Mine was making a joke that actually landed, in real time, without translating it first. Small victory, felt enormous.

Rajesh Patel ⭐ Helpful member
3 Jul 2026, 20:03

Still fully in the translating-everything camp myself, this whole thread is motivating though.