Wine Could Be The Key To Learning Languages, So Pour Us Another

Flickr/Ken Hawkins

We’ll have another glass of Pinot over here while we study our pre-travel flashcards. Turns out a sip or two of wine could improve foreign language fluency.

A recent study in the Journal of Psychopharmacology suggests that consuming alcohol could help you with your language pronunciation.

It’s not a miracle substance. Sadly, you can’t take a shot and expect to remember all the French grammar you learned back in high school. But if you’ve been studying a language recently, the liquid courage could give you that extra push to really strive for an authentic accent.

Researchers at Maastricht University in the Netherlands note that the effect comes from a small amount of alcohol – drunkenly slurring will not help you speak fluent Italian. But try sipping just a little bit to take the edge off and you might forget the worries of speaking sober.

While we love Duolingo, we love the idea of testing out our new conversation skills over some Spanish sangria even more. Or Czech pilsners in Prague – the study doesn’t discriminate between beer, wine or other drinks with low alcohol levels.

So help yourself to a glass and get ready to roll those Rs. You’ll sound like a local in no time.