A “good night’s sleep” seems to be the solution to many things. What if I told you that “sleeping on it” could be a new strategy for language learning? Sounds like a dream, right?

睡个好觉是解决很多烦心事的好办法。那如果我告诉你睡觉也能学外语，你信吗？听起来是不是像在做梦？

Maybe not. Researchers in Switzerland dug a little deeper into the “learn while sleep” myth, and the results were quite surprising. In the study, native German speaking participants were introduced to a series of Dutch-German word pairs late at night. The participants were then divided into two groups: one group stayed awake and listened to a recording¹ of the word pairs (along with some new word pairs not previously² introduced), while the other group listened to the playback as they caught some zzz’s.

也许是真的哦。瑞士的研究专家对于“睡眠学习”神话做了深入的研究，结果让人吃惊。研究中，安排母语是德语的参与者在夜间听一系列荷兰语词组，同时附有德语翻译。然后他们被分成两个组：一个组的成员保持清醒并听一些词组的录音（其中还夹杂着一些他们之前没有听过的词组），另一组的成员则在睡眠中听录音。

After four hours, once the latter group woke from their slumber³, researchers administered a test of the Dutch vocabulary to all participants. Here’s where the surprise comes in: the participants who “slept on it” performed considerably⁴ better than their counterparts who stayed awake.

四小时后，当第二组参与者从睡眠中醒来，研究人员对所有参与者进行了荷兰语词汇的记忆测试。让人惊讶的事情来了：睡着听单词的参与者比醒着听的参与者表现得要好很多。

Brilliant, right? Just pop in some tapes while you sleep and you’ll be fluent in no time! Actually… it doesn’t quite work like that. The study highlights an importantprecursor for success—this act of “verbal cueing” only works when learners have actively⁵ studied the words beforehand:“Re-exposure to Dutch words during sleep improved later memory for the German translation of the cued words when compared with uncued words.”

超赞，有木有？只要在睡觉的时候听些磁带，然后很快就能说一口流利的外语！事实上，并没有这么简单。研究强调了此方法成功的一个重要前提——这种“词汇暗示”仅仅对学习者在睡听之前就已经主动学习过的单词才有用：“与没有学过的单词相比，睡梦中再次重现这些已经学习过的荷兰语词汇有助于学习者加深德语翻译记忆。”

Essentially⁶, new foreign words won’t magically appear in your vocabulary after hearing them in your sleep. You actually have to put in the effort in your conscious state first. The only thing better than a good night’s sleep? Improving your language skills while you do it.

实质上，新外语单词并不会在睡听后就奇迹般地出现在你的语言中，你必须先在意识状态方面花点功夫。有什么是唯一比睡个好觉更好的？那就是，你还可以同时提升你的语言技巧。

Have you tried listening to another language in your sleep? Have you found it helpful?Just try it！

你是否试过睡觉时听外语呢？是否真的有用？试试吧！