Do You Dream In Your First Language?

No matter how fluent we become, some things never fully translate.

When we speak our second language, we search for words.
When we speak our first, the words find us.

But what about dreams?

In sleep, our minds forget to filter.
Old phrases slip through, words we haven’t spoken in years return effortlessly.
We wake up startled, realizing we just spent the night in a language we barely use anymore.

Maybe it’s because our deepest thoughts were formed in that language first.
Maybe it’s because the words we learned as children never fully leave us.
Maybe it’s because language isn’t just communication—it’s memory, identity, home.

And maybe we can spend years, even decades, adapting to a new life.

But at the end of the day—when the world quiets and our minds wander back to where we began—

We still dream in our first language.