Only in our time, not research scientists. For example, in the report recently published in the journal of Psychopharmacology, we are talking about the fact that drinking alcohol is able to help you more naturally to speak in a language that is not your native language, due to the fact that after one drink a person ceases to be shy and feel awkward.
An international team of researchers has found that moderate drinking may have a beneficial effect on pronunciation in a foreign language from people who have recently learned the language.
The study involved 50 German learners of Dutch language in the Dutch University. The participants of the experiment have only recently learned to speak, read and write in a new language. Randomly selected subjects were given glasses filled with alcohol, and the rest got water as a control drink. The amount of alcohol varied depending on the size of the body. The basis for the calculation portions has become the volume of a pint (460 ml) beer for men of 70 kg.
Further, the participants talked with the researcher for five minutes. The next step was to listen to a sound recording of the speech of two native speakers of Dutch, who did not know, did this or that person alcohol. Subjects were also asked to assess their proficiency in the Dutch language during the conversation.
Although alcohol did not affect how students are assessed their abilities, outside observers have put higher scores for the participants a little «tipsy» than those who were completely sober. Particularly successful researchers thought it was the pronunciation.
Scientists suggest that, despite the negative effectsthat alcohol has on memory and attention, the fact that alcohol suppresses anxiety and enhances self-confidencehelps people more freedom to communicate in a foreign language. However, to begin to say for sure, we need more serious research. To avoid excessive generalizations we need to consider more factors and to engage in a similar experiment, a greater number of people.
In addition, the researchers emphasize that the positive effect of a small dose of alcohol. The stronger the concentration of alcohol in the blood will not contribute to a noticeable improvement in the level of foreign language proficiency.
