Get All Access for $5/mo

Drinking Alcohol Can Actually Help You Learn a New Language, Recent Study Says Learning a new language? A pint of beer might be the key to your success.

By Rose Leadem

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Shutterstock

Struggling to learn another language? Apparently adding a little alcohol to the process could make it easier, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.

Researchers discovered that a low dose of alcohol actually helped improve test subjects' ability to pick up a foreign language. By studying a group of 50 German students who had recently learned to speak, read and write in Dutch, the researchers gave half of the students a pint's worth of alcohol and placebo pints, which contained no alcohol, to the other half. After consuming their drinks, each student spoke in Dutch to two native Dutch speakers, who had no idea which students had the alcoholic drinks.

Related: Learning From Failure Is What Makes Entrepreneurs Better Leaders

Turns out, that extra boost of liquid confidence did the trick. The students who had consumed alcohol scored significantly higher from the native speakers than those who didn't, particularly in pronunciation.

"Our study shows that acute alcohol consumption may have beneficial effects on the pronunciation of a foreign language in people who have recently learnt that language. This provides some support for the bilinguals as a low dose of alcohol can improve their ability to speak a second language," explained study co-author and University of Liverpool professor Dr. Inge Kersbergen.

Related: Why Learning A Foreign Language Can Make You A Better Entrepreneur

Of course, don't overdo it. Getting smashed isn't going to help you learn another language. "Higher levels of alcohol consumption might not have beneficial effects on the pronunciation of a foreign language," said researcher and study co-author Fritz Renner.

Also, given the small sample size of the study, the results shouldn't be taken as definitive until they're replicated by other researchers.

Rose Leadem is a freelance writer for Entrepreneur.com. 

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Business News

How Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Transformed a Graphics Card Company Into an AI Giant: 'One of the Most Remarkable Business Pivots in History'

Here's how Nvidia pivoted its business to explore an emerging technology a decade in advance.

Business News

Want to Start a Business? Skip the MBA, Says Bestselling Author

Entrepreneur Josh Kaufman says that the average person with an idea can go from working a job to earning $10,000 a month running their own business — no MBA required.

Business Ideas

63 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2024

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2024.

Business News

Mark Zuckerberg Says He Was an 'Awkward' Leader When Creating Facebook: 'Still Not My Best Thing'

Meta's CEO said being Facebook's founder and leader at age 19 required lots of "feedback loops."