Study: alcohol helps to speak a foreign language more freely

People learning a foreign language sometimes find that drinking alcohol in moderation helps them speak more freely. There may be a reason for this: a glass of beer or wine helps remove psychological barriers and can make it easier for some people to overcome nervousness or doubt.

Фото: Depositphotos

But on the other hand, alcohol also violates cognitive and motor functions, adversely affects memory and attention, can lead to over-confidence and excessive self-esteem, writes Time. So, nevertheless, is it true that people really speak foreign languages ​​better after a glass or another, or is it their drunken courage who speaks it?

To answer this question, British and Dutch researchers conducted an experiment, the results of which were published this week in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. It turns out that the participants actually spoke the foreign language more fluently after drinking small amounts of alcohol - even if they didn't think so.

The study included 50 participants who were studying at the University of Maastricht, located near the border between the Netherlands and Germany, and whose native language was German. All participants said that they sometimes drank alcohol and, since their lectures were given in Dutch, they took exams in this language. Each was asked to conduct a daily two-minute conversation with an interviewer in Dutch. Before this, half were given water to drink, and the other half were given alcoholic drinks. The dose varied depending on the person's weight, but for a 68 kg man it was a maximum of a pint (470 ml) of beer.

The dialogues were recorded and then given to listen to two people whose native language is Dutch. They were not warned that the subjects were drinking alcohol. Participants were also asked to rate their own performances on how freely and fluently they spoke. To the scientists' surprise, alcohol did not affect the subjects' self-esteem - those who drank did not feel more confident or more satisfied with their performances compared to those who drank water.

But they performed better, according to those who listened to the recordings. The Dutch who assessed speech noted that the “alcohol” group had freer and more fluent speech, in particular, better pronunciation, compared to the rest. Grammar and vocabulary scores were similar in both groups. Most likely, the study organizers noted, medium and high doses of alcohol will not have such an effect (and on the contrary, will worsen the situation).

True, the researchers note that the subjects knew that they drank alcohol. Therefore, it is difficult to say whether their foreign language has improved due to the psychological or physiological effects of alcohol. Perhaps in the future, experts will conduct the same studies using placebo.

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