Knowing foreign languages is an incredibly useful skill, especially in the 21st century. You need them at work, while travelling, when you watch your favourite films and series and for communicating with people from all around the world. The big question is: how to learn languages effectively? It turns out that learning while sleeping might help you out. Find out what to do to make it happen!
At first glance, it may seem that language learning while sleeping is very unlikely to happen, right? At night you turn your conscience off, letting your brain regenerate after working hard all day long. But does your brain really rest or doesn’t it? Or maybe it is possible to gain new skills while sleeping? Let’s see what the scientists say!
Is it even possible to learn while sleeping?
You must have heard about all those revolutionary learning while sleeping systems working like in The Matrix. Just put some special glasses on, turn the recording on, go to sleep and wake up in the morning knowing hundreds of new words and expressions in the language of your choice. Magic? Well, there might be some people for whom that would work like a charm – human’s brain is still a mystery to scientists. Nevertheless, for most of us, mere mortals, it isn’t as simple as that. But that doesn’t mean that language learning while sleeping is impossible.
First research connected to the effectiveness of learning while sleeping was done in the ‘50s. The volunteers were listening to recordings with random history, sports and science facts in their sleep. Unfortunately, it turned out that they couldn’t recall any of them after waking up. Why? The answer was brought by a group of Swiss researchers. Their research has shown an important factor that impacts the effectiveness of learning while sleeping. The Swiss, instead of feeding the subjects of their research with some new facts, used the data that had been familiar to them. That means they used the sleeping period to revise the material. And that’s actually the trick!
Language learning while sleeping can be effective if you use the time not to gain new skills but to revise words and expressions you are already familiar with to some extent.
Why does this method of learning languages while sleeping work so well?
When you sleep, your body rests and regenerates itself. But what about your brain? That’s another story. During the night, it works intensely – ordering the data that was gathered all day long. The first hours of your sleep are crucial in this process – it’s the time when the organising is the most intense. And you can use that to your benefit. That’s exactly the time that you should use to revise the vocabulary you’ve learnt during the day. Just put on a recording with Polish or German conversation phrases and go to sleep. That way you can learn Spanish, Italian, Polish, German or any other language at night.
Fair warning: don’t expect miracles! One or two revision sessions won’t make you a fluent German or Italian speaker. But when you start exposing yourself to those useful expressions on a daily basis, it might turn out that recalling them and speaking fluently will gradually get easier.
How to learn languages while sleeping?
In order to make language learning at night really effective, follow these steps.
- Learning regularly is the most important rule you should follow. Revise the vocabulary often enough to see the difference. That way Polish or Spanish conversation phrases will stick to your brain for a very long time.
- Repeat the phrases just before you go to sleep. You can even do it in your bed. The best thing you can do is putting on some relaxing recordings, for example with Spanish or Italian conversation phrases that you can find on Language Freak YouTube Channel. Its calming pace will allow you to fall asleep easily, but at the same time, it’ll allow you to continue feeding your brains with useful expressions. The recording will last for 1-2 hours after you’ve gone to sleep, allowing you to use the time as effectively as possible.
- The following day put the same record on, but during the day. You can do it on your way to work or while you get ready to go out in the morning. This time do it more actively – try to guess the correct translation of the expressions presented. You’ll be surprised by how much you’ve managed to remember!
Learn this way regularly and discover how fluent you’ll become in time. Good luck!
Also read Repetition – your way of effective language learning and visit our channel Language Freak 🙂
