Can You Read In Your Dreams? Another hidden talent discussed here?

[Crowe 0]

I have read many things at times in my dreams. But usually when I dream, it is usually someone speaking instead of actual signs (advertisements and the like), and there are very symbolic things that often appear. I can understand them for the most part, and piece them together, but sometimes I forget the moment that I wake up.My dreams usually have a lot of shadows, wolves, and wild situations. Fire has always been frequent to appear as well, and it always seems that I am on some sort of journey.

[armondtimesbelize 0]

Okay so the topic is pretty straight forward. "Can you read in your dreams?" So what brings this topic up? I heard recently that when you are asleep and in dream land, that it is supposed to be impossible for you to actually read anything intelligible ( like signs or instructions). It has something to do with the different parts of the brain and how they are functioning when you hit sleep mode. Anyways I found this really confusing because part of my problems in figuring out whether I am asleep or awake sometimes is that I can read in my sleep and it's regular words (much like I am typing and you are reading right now) as opposed to some strange gibberish.

So can you read in your dreams or are you stuck with some strange version of written dream language?

That is how you know you are dreaming. This is a good way to be ready to begin something called Lucid dreaming. When you are dreaming and realize that you are you can change the dream.
As to why we can't read in a dream there are many theories. My favorite is that writing is a human construct that the brain only recognizes when we are conscious because it takes conscious thought to learn and recognize words.

[anwiii 17]

i suppose only if you can read when you AREN'T dreaming....

[iGuest 3]

I just had a dream where I read a sign for a school.  I have drempt of signs and warnings before so I knew that the concept of not being able to read while dreaming was incorrect.  But this time, when reading the school sign, I tried to pronounce it so I had to actually "read" it and comprehend, something the right brain usually dosn't do. It looked like it was trying to say "BRANIACS" but when reading the sign and trying to pronounce it, the sign turned into something like "BRAINIACIANS" but I was still able to read, pronounce, and coprehend the sign.

-reply by Pete

[iGuest 3]

Replying to GrinningKittieI induce a few lucid dreams a week. I found it difficult if not impossible to read while dreaming. So I?ve tried the last couple of nights and I was able to read ?fourteen? and ?eleven? (in letters), and when I tried reading it back, it had switch order (eleven and fourteen). Usually, most of the words I make out are gibberish, have weird characters or the letters change constantly. Is anyone successful in reading while dreaming and if so, what is your technique?

talleyrand

[miladinoski 1]

Well I think that I can read in dreams because I have dreamed several movies and soccer matches (!?!) with subtitles below and even though I understood what the movies said because I know English, I compared my translations to the ones below and they ended up the same so because of this I think that I most certainly read in that dream.Also, I have read signs (on bilboards and on cars - like taxi, hospital etc.) and the clock! :PEitherways, I'll try to read something in my dream tonight if I remember this topic

[Teina 0]

I don't remember reading so much... but I definitely wrote something down once, so I wouldn't forget it. (And I didn't... so... I win? )How does anyone know for sure that they're reading, and not just gathering information and believing that they're reading? I mean, the information is all there in your head already so... might it be possible you think you're reading (because you're dreaming of a common situation that involves reading), but in actuality something different is happening... like the sound processing portion of your brain is actually doing the work? Just adding more thoughts to the pile.

[Echo_of_thunder 1]

I do not remember if I did any reading or not but. I know I am guilty of doing things and thinking I dreamed doing it in my sleep then waking up the next day to find out I did it. like dreaming I wrote a E mail and finding out the next day or so that I sent a E mail to the person or persons I thought that I dreamed of doing it too. Another form of sleep walking I guess.

[Ousk 0]

Yeah i can read in my dreams, in my native language, in english a couple of times and even some deutsch. But there are fragments or short phrases, not articles or books. Anyway i also did math and some physics in some dreams. The thing i've noticed is that if that the longer the text is the harder it is to remember anything from it the next day when you wake up.

[curtis07 0]

I've done calculus in my dreams before. When I awoke, I had to go actually complete my math homework. It reallllly sucked. Unfortunately, the calculus I did in my dream wasn't what I was doing on real paper. If only....

[iGuest 3]

Sometimes I read my dreams. It's hard to explain. I remember what I read because I read the entire dream. I remember seeing my hands turning the pages, what color the book is, the words, everything. There are no other images expect for maybe a blue sky with clouds. I can even remember reading out loud. When I do read out loud it seems to be more important. Sometimes I experience deja vu because I have read about a place or something. Sometimes I know what someone is going to say because I have read them saying something close to what they are saying.

-reply by cat guess

[iGuest 3]

Dreamed of a elevatorCan You Read In Your Dreams?

I dreamed while I was escaping from somebody who wanted to steal something I had.   I took a elevator, that had my name on it, and I could distinctly see the shapes of the letters and comprehend their meanings.    I pushed the number 3 and got off at the 3rd level, walked a little ways past a fast-food vendor, and then woke up.

I don't know why, but I've always been able to read clearly, things and text in my dreams.   I see the shapes of the letters, and the meanings they have, as well as the meanings when they are added together into words. 

The way I understand it, some people are not able to read in dreams, and some are.   Maybe this has something to do with how I seem to see images in a different manner.   I was told by a visual graphics instructor at the college I go to, that most people look at images the way they read text, top first then to bottom.    But that its so automatic that they never consciously think about it.    I have carefully thought about it, and looking at new images, my eyes are usually drawn to the bottom first, not the top.

Is this the difference between reading in dreams, and seeing gibberish in them?

-reply by A redhead

[iGuest 3]

Depends on what you do most of the time. When I was preparing for a exams, I used to have a lot of dreams where I would read something from the book. Once I read about a fact that I had forgotten, woke up and remembered, opened the book and saw the fact at the bottom right of the page as in the dream! This has happened to me as well as some of my friends: we would discover an amazing way to solve a problem, realize that we are dreaming, take a mental note to remember this thing in the morning and realize that everything was gibberish on waking up.

[iGuest 3]

I was just talking to someone about this the other day. We were talking about how scientist have stated it's impossible to read in dreams, etc. He said he'd read in a dream, and I hadn't had that experience. Then three nights later, I had a dream where I actually read a full paragraph from a text message on my phone. I remember every word, and it was from a friend in real life. Last night I had another dream about reading, but this one I do not recall. It's a little odd that scientists state something like that. Dreams are so random and arbitrary that I don't think it is even possible to observe dreams for reading.

[iGuest 3]

I have absolutely no difficulty reading in dreams. Just a few nights ago I had a dream that mainly consisted of words (actual visible words that were clear, definitely English, and remained the same even when I reread some of it) and had a sort of... background awareness of visuals? Which is pretty much the dream version of what happens when I read a good book.A sign or something in the distance isn't always clear though, or will only have one distinct word if it's important. Again though that's similar to how my conscious mind works (if I'm awake of course, I can read that sort of thing, but unless I focus I tend to simply not notice the details)As an additional note, I'm a writer and an avid reader, so words are second nature to me most of the time.I'd really love to find out where this myth about not being able to read in dreams came from.