Dream Fragments / Daydreams / Thoughts / Sleep Cycles | Learning / Practicing Spanish Duolingo Style

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Wow! Last night was crazy/interesting, is this real life? 😀

Anyway, as some of you know I have studied French (I started French two weeks before I started Spanish) and now I have studied Spanish everyday for almost a month now for free on www.Duolingo.com ; and I am about to break my record for the longest that I have consistently studied a language course (which I might have already broken probably), and I might even finish this course one day which will break a record by being the first language course that I will have ever finished. 😀

Even though I have only been studying Spanish for barely even two weeks, I have slightly surpassed French in the number of Skill Points that I have earned, but I am at Level 4 in both languages; but French is giving me a much harder time than Spanish, which is interesting.

So far I have not failed a Spanish lesson yet and I am doing way better with Spanish than French (even though I have studied/listened to French off & on for several years while I have never really tried studying Spanish during those years), Spanish spelling/conjugation/pronunciation is way more logical/regular/easy for me so far, but I have had to repeat some French lessons three or more times since I am struggling with French spelling/conjugation/pronunciation which seems worse/harder than even English.

Doing Spanish lessons is a bit fun for/to me, but doing French lessons is like fighting in a mixed martial arts match where you barely win and/or lose a lot so it is not really fun since I am fighting just to survive some of the lessons; which is still a bit surprising since French has been my language of choice for years now when it comes to learning another language, I listen to French music often, I have more experience with studying French/hearing it/seeing it/dreaming it/et cetera, but that does not seem to matter much at this time compared to how easy Spanish is for me so far. 😀

Anyway, I highly recommend that you all give Duolingo a try if you are interested in a nice free language course for beginners.

Last night Duolingo was the source of inspiration for my brain it seems and it dominated my thoughts, dreams, and daydreams last night.

Before going to bed I remember thinking that it would be nice to practice some of my language skills in a dream by being able to hear and/or communicate with some dream characters in Spanish and/or French, so I guess I set the intention, and my brain took that intention & adjusted it; and it set out to focus on organizing, studying, practicing, learning mostly Spanish Duolingo style after I went to sleep.

I almost did not dream at all last night, my brain was stuck mostly in a mode/cycle which usually happens unconsciously without you knowing it before/after/between dreams or during various sleep stages, where your brain replays/rewinds/fast-forwards/re-lives/organizes/learns/studies/et cetera memories & other things from your waking life; I sometimes am conscious through some of this, very rarely, and last night was one of those rare times & experiencing this can be over-whelming.

Your brain is doing its own thing mostly and you are sort of trapped in its cycle and the cycle can go on & on & repeat many times, and so it can tire you out a bit since so much is happening so fast.

My brain was repeatedly going over words, phrases, and things that I learned in Duolingo so far in Spanish mostly; it might have went over a few English words, maybe a few Spanish words that I have not even learned yet, maybe a few words from another language, and maybe a few French words.

I would see words, phrases, et cetera; and I would sometimes have to conjugate the verbs, fill in the blanks, say a word or phrase, enter the English translations, enter the Spanish translations of English words or phrases, choose the correct pronouns, choose the correct gender, et cetera.

This went on & on all night whether I was dreaming, thinking, daydreaming, and/or partly awake.

I only remember part of one dream which might have been my only dream, where I was at C Elementary during the day, and the dream was not the focus & it was mostly in the background; and my focus was still practicing/learning/studying Spanish Duolingo style mostly, and I could see an area that was always in my field of vision where I was studying while the dream was still going on.

I was worn out a bit and I wanted to focus on the dream only, but I could not & I was forced to keep practicing Spanish during the entire dream; but I was not practicing with dream characters, I was using the area that was always in my field of vision, and it was a Duolingo style bar/box where all the practicing/studying/learning happened.

So I had to do that and interact with the dream at the same time, which was a bit tiring, and the dream involved me having to have a shootout with police and FBI-like people or something crazy like that; but I had to do that and do Spanish lessons at the same time. 😀

So here is a small example of how the dream experience was, but this is only a small example:

“Yo come el pan.

Yo escribo una carta.

Ella bebe vino.

*Shoots gun*

Ellos beben leche.

*Ducks*

Tú bebes agua.

Usted es una niña.

*Take cover*

Nosotros bebemos agua.

*Yells something to a dream character*

Nosotras leen un libro.

*Runs* “

This went on & on during the dream or dreams.

When I was not dreaming, thinking, or daydreaming while studying Spanish; I was partly awake and during these parts my mind was still practicing Spanish mostly, and I would go back to sleep.

I could not stop this cycle of studying and I felt a bit trapped at times, but eventually I woke up enough to get out of the cycle; and I had that weird feeling that I have usually when I have those rare times where I have a hard time waking up and/or getting out of bed.

But I still felt like doing my Duolingo lessons after waking up. 😀

I am not sure how much longer I will continue with French since it is beating me up so much 😀 , and I might focus on Spanish only & try to complete the Spanish course & then move to the French course if I feel like it; but I am not sure, for now I am doing both at the same time.

The end,

-John Jr 🙂