Can you learn Spanish while you sleep?
A lot of people ask us whether you can learn Spanish in your sleep. NO! If you’ve seen some blog post or advertisement claiming that you can go off to sleep with your earbuds in and wake up speaking Spanish, and are wondering “can I really learn Spanish in my sleep..?”
The answer is a resounding no. Sorry folks. You definitely can’t become a language pro while you take a nap.
The science behind why learning Spanish in your sleep doesn’t work
Have you ever heard the saying that you need to practice something for 10,000 hours before you’re an expert in it? Well, the real truth is that to truly be an expert, you need to do much more than just invest time. You actually need 10,000 hours of deliberate practice.
Language learning takes deliberate practice
Deliberate practice means purposeful and systematic practice (as opposed to rote memory, which involves simply mindlessly repeating something until it becomes automatic.) Imagine you listened to and repeated a Spanish sentence and said it a thousand times. Your pronunciation might be perfect after all that practice. But have you really learned any Spanish? No, you just memorized and reproduced the sounds that you heard. You might even eventually be able to pick out a few words in that sentence. However, do you know what any of them mean? Could you use the same words in any other context? Answer a question with them? Rephrase the initial sentence while preserving the meaning? No, because you didn’t learn any language comprehension.
This is analogous to listening to Spanish while you sleep and expecting to learn how to utilize what you have heard in a real life setting. You won’t have the skills you need from this passive activity alone. The language comprehension (and true mastery) comes from the active work, the deliberate practice.
That being said, there is certainly some interesting research being done out there regarding language acquisition and passive learning (or so called subliminal learning). In fact, a 2014 article from The Independent claims that European researchers found that study participants who did listen to Spanish tapes while sleeping did actually see an increase in comprehension and performance when compared to their counterparts who did not listen.
“…a team of Swiss psychologists say you can actually learn a foreign language in your sleep”
The important distinction they made is that so-called subliminal learning can help solidify the memory of the words. This means that there may be some minor benefit to listening to Spanish tapes in your sleep if you’re already putting in the regular waking hours of deliberate practice. That’s the theory, anyways.
You can see similar research here:
“Researchers [Charles Simon and William Emmons] concluded that sleep learning was ‘impractical, and probably impossible.'”
“People can’t learn any new verbal information while they’re asleep… [Any learning would only] happen in the 15 seconds between consciousness and falling asleep.”
The one thing that all of these articles and studies have in common is that noone is picking up Spanish from scratch just by listening to tapes while they sleep. True subliminal learning is a myth. Passive language acquisition during sleep may or may not be a useful augmentative learning tool. But it’s not a replacement for good old fashioned hard work, studying, practice, and language immersion (AKA study abroad!)
We will admit a few things that listening to Spanish in your sleep MIGHT actually be good for:
Accent
Absorbing the different ways in which a native Spanish speaker pronounces certain syllables, the cadence with which they form their sentences, and how they accentuate different words seems like something that may ultimately make you more confident and comfortable speaking later on. But, you’ll still need to learn the actual vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure.
Basic language comprehension
If you’re getting used to hearing the sounds and sound groupings that are found in Spanish, it may ultimately be easier for you to pick out words and phrases that you learn via deliberate practice later on. Once again, in this instance the passive learning is only helpful when bolstered by practice and study. If anything, it’s just setting the basic groundwork.
Here’s what listening to Spanish in your sleep almost definitely WON’T help with:
Vocabulary
In all likelihood, if you don’t know a word’s meaning when you go to sleep, you’re not going to know it’s meaning when you wake up.
Grammar
This is one of those skills that really requires a lot of hands on learning; whether it’s guided instruction, active listening, or targeted reading.
Why have “learn Spanish while you sleep” courses become so popular, then?
Well, the simple truth is that the idea of learning Spanish while sleeping is an attractive one. Like in almost any area of life, many people are seduced by the idea of getting a lot of return out of only a little work. Unfortunately, it’s just not a realistic outcome to be expected.
Look, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is! Anyone claiming they have a tape that you can play while you nap and wake up a better Spanish speaker than you started is probably trying to sell you a Spanish tape. Do yourself a favor and ditch the “quick fixes.” The hard truth of the matter is that learning any language as a second language is not easy. It’s hard work. But it’s worth it.
If you came here expecting the easy way out, sorry to disappoint. You will not be able to learn Spanish in your sleep. If you want to really learn how to master Spanish, you have to be willing to stick it out. Here are some of our favorite methods of learning Spanish that actually believe will work:
- Use this link for 25% off Babbel’s premium language learning app. Results are guaranteed, or your money back, and you can cancel anytime.
- Rocket Languages knows more about learning a new language than anyone on the planet. They offer multiple award-winning language learning courses.
Let us know how you do, and good luck! Stay awake!
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