Brush up your language skills with a little Dutch courage

A little bit of Dutch courage could be the answer to developing better foreign language skills, according to researchers at Maastricht University, Liverpool University and King’s College London.

The researchers tested the effect of a low dose of alcohol on participants’ abilities to speak Dutch and found that a beer actually boosted their skills.

The survey focused on 50 German students studying at Maastricht who were learning Dutch. They were asked to drink either the equivalent of half a litre of beer or a non-alcoholic drink before talking Dutch for a few minutes.

Their language skills were then rated by two native Dutch speakers who did not know which of the participants had been drinking. The research guinea pigs also assessed their own language skills.

The researchers found that participants who had consumed alcohol had significantly better ratings for their Dutch language, pronunciation in particular, compared to those who had not been drinking.

However, alcohol had no effect on the participant’s own ratings of their language skills.

While the study shows that alcohol may have beneficial effects on pronunciation, Maastricht University’s Fritz Renner said it is important to point out that the participants only had a low dose. ‘Higher levels of alcohol consumption might not have beneficial effects on the pronunciation of a foreign language,’ broadcaster RTL Nieuws quotes him as saying.

The findings are published in the latest issue of the Journal of Psychopharmacology.