A glass of wine ensures that you speak a second language fluently

With a few glasses of wine you were probably already convinced, but research has now shown something very pleasant. A low dose of alcohol could improve speaking a second language. Yes, really, researchers from Maastricht University, the University of Liverpool, and King’s College London gave fifty Germans a drink with a low dose of alcohol, adjusted to the body weight of the participants. The drink corresponded to 460 milliliters of beer for a man weighing 70 kilos. The other half of the group received an alcohol-free control drink. Everyone who was served a drink with or without alcohol had recently learned the Dutch language.

 
And there it was. After consuming all the drinks, a pleasant chat was held for a few minutes in, yes, Dutch with an experimenter. This analysis showed that participants who had a sip of alcohol performed better in their Dutch language skills. Especially the ‘pronunciation’ section scored surprisingly well.

 
The difference between the drinkers and non-drinkers? Well, alcohol acts as an anxiety reducer. And those reducers not only send you dancing to the bar during a girls‘ night out but also chase away the ’I'm too awkward to speak English, French, or maybe even Chinese' insecurity with one shot down the throat. I say: next year, take the final exam with a cocktail in hand.