I had a dream today. It was strange like almost any other dream but also funny.
My best friend and I were at place that looked like an abandoned football field. There was a little house made of old rusty metal plates. I entered the house and saw an old man. I somehow knew that he is an owner of that football field and I knew he wasn’t happy to see us. So I made up a story that we are professional football players and we need to train to beat Russian national football team. I told that story to the old man and the funny thing is that I told it in English. One specific line has stuck with me. I told the old man, “I want to crush these Russians”.
It’s funny because it was the first time I spoke English in a dream. I’ve found out even more funnier thing in the morning. Russian national football team played a game last night and was crushed indeed. They lost 0:5 to Serbia.
So speaking that one line in foreign language is a good sign. It shows that I’m making progress in learning English. But one line in dream is not enough for me. I want more :) So I have a question. What do you think about immersive approach? I often watch English language videos on Youtube just for fun. I usually understand 80-85% words but I don’t check unknown words in dictionary. Will it benefit me if I keep consume content that way? Or should I check unknown words and memorize them?
Dreaming in another language, even if it's just one line, is a good sign! It sounds like you're making progress. Also, you may be able to tell the future, haha!
I do the same thing as you do: I watch YouTube in French and can generally understand most of what's being said. I do think, though, that checking unknown words sometimes is a good idea. Maybe try picking shorter videos with subtitles to study intensely (word by word) and keep watching longer videos without looking up everything.
I agree with pithyquibbles! I think it's good to have a balance of both. Easy Languages would be a good resource if you wanted to study vocabulary in context, as Robin has mentioned in his videos before. However, I think it's also important to have some videos that are longer and "for fun" to keep you motivated and enjoying the language and only looking up words when you notice a word is hindering your understanding of the entire video (you'll also probably be more likely to remember the word that way, too!).
@pithyquibbles the idea of shorter videos sounds great! Thanks.