How many times have you thought that, after a few beers your English starts flowing perfectly?

Feeling that we speak another language when we ingest alcohol is a fact. But there was always the doubt if this was actually true or just a side-effect of the drink, inhibiting us.

Now, science has an answer. In a new study, British and Irish researchers have proved that alcohol consumption can, in fact, have a beneficial side-effect with the pronunciation of a second or third language.

To reach this conclusion, they studied the behavior of 50 Germans learning Dutch.

They had to keep an informal conversation for two minutes and in this second language, but before the talk, half of them had water and the other half had an alcoholic drink.

Afterwards, two Dutch native speakers graded each conversation, unknowingly of who had a drink and who hadn’t. With no surprise, those who had alcohol had higher grading, specially with their pronunciation.

The explanation is quite logical. Ingesting alcohol helps reduce the anxiety levels, and therefore, we feel more comfortable and we do it better. And its because the main barrier we encounter when we want to speak another language is, precisely, the lack of confidence.

The trick to achieving this upgrade is the amount of alcohol consumption, but these effects could be the contrary if we exceed out consumption. According the study, the ideal amount of an average person (of approximately 60 kilos) is less than a pint of beer.

Via: Life and Style