Now I wonder if my foreign-language-speaking friends also dream in English from time to time. I can recall having several dreams in French, and I've had at least two dreams now that were partially in Hebrew. (I had one really creepy partially Hebrew dream where someone asked me something in Hebrew and I answered him -- but I didn't understand what I said, consciously, and had to look it up. I was very freaked out to find out that what I said made sense in context.)
Of course, my dreaming in foreign languages probably has something to do with the fact that I (am such a pervert that I) often do translation exercises and conversational role-playing in my head as a method of getting to sleep. (Counting sheep is math. ;-) ) Partly I do it because the imaginary scenaria are always pleasant and distract me from any bad thoughts that might be trying to creep in, and partly I do it for practice. :)
I remember one thing about one dream from the period of my stay in Israel. At some point of the dream I was either having the thought or even saying to someone "I wonder if they are speaking right to left."
Counting is not math. Counting is arithmetic. Arithmetic is to math what reciting A-B-C's is to literature.
--laugh-- Point taken, but it's all difficult to me.
Basically, if it involves numbers, it's going to give me fits. (Numbers dance too much.) I never found counting sheep to be relaxing; counting takes too much mental overhead to allow me to sleep (which is probably also why I use counting in all my languages as a method for defusing my temper -- I have to spend so much of my mental energy that I don't have any cycles left for being angry).
I hate being a "dual exceptionality." Besides being the type of person who hangs around with Glenn, I also have dyscalculia. So, I'm disproportionately good at some things and subnormal at others (ie. math etc.). I have a lot of the classic dyscalculic symptoms, including the inability to remember concepts and formulae for any significant period of time (I've been taught algebra from scratch by private tutors five times now *scowl*), poor visual memory for numbers and faces, poor mathematical problem solving skills (I often can't tell even how to begin solving something even when it's blatantly obvious to other people), and some spatial problems. Stupid messed-up brain wiring!
Don't even get me started on counting to large numbers in my other languages, even French (I'm Canadian)...
And they are speaking right to left, unless they're talking in numerals... (joke) I've never quite understood that tendency towards boustrophedonic alphanumerics in Hebrew. It's murder on the reading speed. :)
Watching somebody type a business document in Hebrew is a disorienting experience -- seeing the bousterophedonism in action as the word processing software switches between numeric and text states is one of the very few things that cause me motion discomfort. Watching someone write such texts is even more amusing, especially in the cases when the person has misestimated the space that the numeral is going to require.
Your dyscalculia is interesting a phenomenon; I have had the impression that at least some forms of music talent (rhythm, perhaps) have positive correlation with some forms of math skills. The memory is faint and old, though.
Translating is an activity I don't do at all well. It appears that my languages are fairly strongly compartementalised. I can switch between languages very rapidly, but to translate on anything but the gisting level I need to think slow and hard.
Subtitles. Wow...
Now I wonder if my foreign-language-speaking friends also dream in English from time to time. I can recall having several dreams in French, and I've had at least two dreams now that were partially in Hebrew. (I had one really creepy partially Hebrew dream where someone asked me something in Hebrew and I answered him -- but I didn't understand what I said, consciously, and had to look it up. I was very freaked out to find out that what I said made sense in context.)
Of course, my dreaming in foreign languages probably has something to do with the fact that I (am such a pervert that I) often do translation exercises and conversational role-playing in my head as a method of getting to sleep. (Counting sheep is math. ;-) ) Partly I do it because the imaginary scenaria are always pleasant and distract me from any bad thoughts that might be trying to creep in, and partly I do it for practice. :)
Re: Subtitles. Wow...
Counting is not math. Counting is arithmetic. Arithmetic is to math what reciting A-B-C's is to literature.
Arithmetic...math...it's all the reason why I'm translating instead...
Basically, if it involves numbers, it's going to give me fits. (Numbers dance too much.) I never found counting sheep to be relaxing; counting takes too much mental overhead to allow me to sleep (which is probably also why I use counting in all my languages as a method for defusing my temper -- I have to spend so much of my mental energy that I don't have any cycles left for being angry).
I hate being a "dual exceptionality." Besides being the type of person who hangs around with Glenn, I also have dyscalculia. So, I'm disproportionately good at some things and subnormal at others (ie. math etc.). I have a lot of the classic dyscalculic symptoms, including the inability to remember concepts and formulae for any significant period of time (I've been taught algebra from scratch by private tutors five times now *scowl*), poor visual memory for numbers and faces, poor mathematical problem solving skills (I often can't tell even how to begin solving something even when it's blatantly obvious to other people), and some spatial problems. Stupid messed-up brain wiring!
Don't even get me started on counting to large numbers in my other languages, even French (I'm Canadian)...
And they are speaking right to left, unless they're talking in numerals... (joke) I've never quite understood that tendency towards boustrophedonic alphanumerics in Hebrew. It's murder on the reading speed. :)
Re: Arithmetic...math...it's all the reason why I'm translating instead...
Your dyscalculia is interesting a phenomenon; I have had the impression that at least some forms of music talent (rhythm, perhaps) have positive correlation with some forms of math skills. The memory is faint and old, though.
Translating is an activity I don't do at all well. It appears that my languages are fairly strongly compartementalised. I can switch between languages very rapidly, but to translate on anything but the gisting level I need to think slow and hard.